The Path Of Death
by ElvishDeath
Summary: What if Sirius came back from the veil, as Set, Death? How will he react to the new world and how would the world take it? Please R
1. The Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...poor me...**

**I also would like to thank RenaTamer for letting me use his character: Black**

**The Prologue**

**June 26, 1995**

Closing the door of the Department of Mysteries behind him, Unspeakable Patrick Crockford looked at the wreckage of the battle between Harry Potter and the Death Eaters that still lay about. It had been a long day starting at 03:00 with an emergency call-out and ending in an all-out reveal of the Dark Lord and his forces. The damage to the Department of Mysteries was...how could six Death Eaters and six children cause so much chaos in so little time. The room of prophecies... half are gone and... Well.

Already the morning edition of _the Daily Prophet _was in everyone's hands reporting the events of the night to all of Great Britain. The Dark Lord was back. _He who must not be named _has been named. Maybe he should start thinking of immigrating to America and become a muggle. His wife won't mind, she's non-magical anyway.

Too lazy to walk up the stairs to go to the lift and out, he tapped the television remote he still held in his hand after he was summoned to the ministry, while he was watching television. It was urgent, apparently. Urgent, huh! More like a code red national emergency Level H. Oh dear, too much television, _again_.

With a swirl of color he was gone and moments later landed safely in the living room of his house. Feeling too exhausted to do anything else he collapsed on the couch and fell asleep instantly. Felicity, his wife of 10 years, came in with their youngest son, Damaen, on her arm. Putting the 2-year-old boy down on the carpet, close to his father, she went back to the kitchen to start breakfast.

There was a re-run of his favorite cartoon show on television, so he was transfixed in one spot while watching this show, Digimon. During one of the commercial breaks, his father turned in his sleep and his wand fell next to Damaen, slightly tapping his arm, which brought him out of his television-daze.

Puzzled at this weird stick that landed next to him, he picked it up and wove it around, mumbling. Then, like a typical 2-year old, he started to smash his father's wand into different objects, the chair lost a leg, the lights went off and the fruit tap-danced across the table. Picking up the remote control/port-key where it fell from his father's hand, and smashed the two together like his own personal orchestra.

Felicity was busy working in the kitchen with breakfast, when she heard tapping noises coming from the living room. Not too worried, for she knew there were toys there, she kept working. Then all of a sudden she heard a loud buzz and a strong wind blew through the house and silence followed in its wake. Puzzled she glanced at the television and saw the snow screen. Shrugging she went back in, reminding herself to tell her husband to pay the cable bill in the morning, but little did she know...


	2. The First Chapter

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...poor me...**

**I also would like to thank RenaTamer for letting me use his character: Black**

**The First Chapter**

Damaen looked startled at his cymbals. They had flashed and sparked and suddenly he was no longer in his warm comfy living room but in this cold dark place with whispering voices. He started crying for his mommy, looking up at this strange man who came from the veil.

The strange man looked down at this tiny human at his feet, bawling its eyes out, he thought 'This is awkward'. Shrugging, he walked to the door that seemed to be the only way out of this strange place. As he walked up the stairs, he could hear the echoes of the child's crying following him. With strange arrogance, he walked into, what seemed to him to be the main section of the building he was in.

Looking around, he saw that the whole place was made of gold, and for some reason, most of the people who seemed to work there, seemed quite happy. Which bothered him to quite an extent. Cause, how can anybody be happy in a bright place like this. Then, ignoring the rest he slowly walked to the door that seemed to lead outside.

Ministry officials cleaning in the Atrium sighed with relief when Fudge and Dumbledore finally left. Now they can stand about and gossip and exclaim in awe that Dumbledore was right after all. The lift buzzed and offloaded someone coming from below, who headed straight to the outside door. Kingsley Shacklebolt was being attended by some medi-witches, when he registered whom he just saw leaving. He stood up, stared and said.

"_Sirius?_ Sirius. SIRIUS!"

Everyone stared.

Sirius Black was back.

As he walked out, he heard people inside shouting a bunch of orders and a lot of feet running, he didn't know why, and he didn't care. Slowly and almost gracefully he vanished into the alleys of the city he found himself in. The early dawn was different yet calming to his soul.

As walked on he felt himself calmer in the brisk morning air, so for the next few hours he kept in the back alleys trying not to come in contact with the humans and just enjoyed the fresh air that for some reason he felt he hadn't had time to enjoy for so long.

_Back at Hogwarts..._

_Harry looked up at him and saw a tear trickling down Dumbledore's face into his long silver beard._

Dumbledore buried his face in his hands when the door closed behind Harry. Sighing in despair, he wished that this tragedy had never come upon the boy. That his parents, James and Lily had not died and that Tom Riddle had never existed. Oh the dreams and regrets of old men.

His door burst open. Minerva McGonagall stood gasping for breath in the doorway.

"Albus." she gasped "Albus... Kingsley...just...Sirius...is"

"Calm down, Minerva."

"Sirius...Sirius."

"I know, Minerva," he sighed "and Harry isn't taking it very well." He became brisk. "You will need to keep a close watch on him to see-

"Albus, you don't understand. He's back."

Dumbledore sighed resignedly, "Lord Voldemort, yes despite our best efforts he now knows-"

"Albus, be quiet! I'm trying to tell you something!" she shouted.

Dumbledore looked at McGonagall surprised by her outburst.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt just flooed me from the ministry and apparently as they were cleaning up, Sirius Black walked out of the ministry. He just walked out of there. Kingsley searched outside with 20 others, but could not find a trace of him. He just disappeared. What does this mean, Albus?"

Dumbledore sank back into his chair and stared.

"Albus?"

"Sirius is _back_...?" he mumbled.

"Albus, what are you going to tell Harry? And what about Remus? And half of the Ministry _saw_ him." she asked.

"We cannot tell Harry anything yet," he said, seeing McGonagall's frown, "in case it is not true. To get his hopes up and then be disappointed again... it would kill him. As for Remus he might already know, as he is at Headquarters." Albus explained.

"If this is true then..." McGonagall trailed off.

"_If_ this is true we need to prove Sirius' innocence as soon as possible. But back from the veil... impossible."


	3. The Second Chapter

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...poor me...**

**I also would like to thank RenaTamer for letting me use his character: Black**

**The Second Chapter**

It's been a week now that he has been wondering the streets of the city he now knows as London. During the time he had met a few people and had come to know the area pretty well. So, like any other day, he went to walk past all the small little stores where he usually walked by, to see if there was some way to get out of this place without attracting too much attention to him.

He was deep in thought when he walked past an old downtrodden little inn. Then a hugely built man stepped out of the little pub, bumped into him and sent him sprawling into the gutter, his vision blurring because of the force he was knocked over with. He stood up, shook his head and tried to brush the muck off his clothes as he apologized to the stranger with a growl and tried to walk on.

Rubeus Hagrid had been on watch at the Leaky Cauldron for a week now. He's been stationed here for a dual purpose, one to watch for Death Eater activity and also to keep an eye out for the elusive Mr. Black. He was worried about Harry. He wasn't taking the disappearance/death of his godfather, Sirius Black, very well. Harry was VERY displeased at having to go back to the Dursleys (and had expressed his feelings quite clearly and loudly) while rumors were going about of Sirius Black being alive. All order members had fervently denied such a possibility, with the exception of Kingsley Shacklebolt who claimed that, "No I'm not Confunded,and it _was _Sirius". Molly Weasly was currently closely watching Kingsley.

Hagrid stepped outside for a bit of fresh air, and staggered back when somebody ploughed into him. He fell back against the wall and his breath whooshed out of his lungs. The stranger had fallen into the gutter with a thud. Before Hagrid could offer his assistance and apologize, the man growled something under his breath and walked off.

Hagrid stared and suddenly moved. One of his huge ham-like hands shot out and grabbed the stranger's shoulder.

"Sirius... Sirius it's really yeh. I though' they were all jokin' when they said tha' yeh were back." Hagrid's face was lit up and tears were rolling down his face. " We all though' tha' Shacklebolt was mad when he said he saw yeh at the ministry."

When Black could find himself again he was inside the grubby pub being dragged towards a huge roaring fireplace. The place was empty except for the barman, who had dropped a glass upon seeing the infamous Sirius Black. His single conclusion was

"...You're absolutely mad. Let me go, you big buffoon." he yelled.

Before he could stop the giant madman, he had dragged them into the now green flames. The roaring of the flames surrounded them and his last thought was.

"This is so not the way to die..."

Remus Lupin was sitting at the kitchen table drinking firewhiskey, waiting for the Order meeting to begin, when Tonks joined him.

" Hey, Remus why so blue?"

Remus lifted bloodshot eyes to her and snarled, "Why do you _think_?"

"Worried about Harry? Don't worry mate, he'll be fine you'll see..." her voice trailed off as she saw the expression on his face.

Luckily the flow of words about to burst forth from his lips was halted as Dumbledore called order to the meeting.

"Regarding Harry's summer arrangements-" he began

"Harry will be staying with us," Molly interrupted, "at the Burrow."

"Yes Molly, we've discussed this at length. Harry needs to stay at his aunt's house for a while before he can go anywhere." Dumbledore explained for what seemed the millionth time.

"Headmaster, what are we going to do about the rumors regarding Sirius?"

"Bill, I am no longer your headmaster. Call me Albus. About Black..."

"Albus I know what I saw. It _was_ Sirius. Take the memory and put it in the pensieve and see for yourself." Kingsley was angry.

"Kingsley calm down. I know what you think you saw, but if Sirius had been alive, don't you think he would've let us know-"

Everyone stared at the fireplace as a cheerful Hagrid stepped out of the flames.

Dumbledore frowned "Hagrid aren't you supposed to be at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"I was. But I bumped into someone I tough' yeh might' like to see." Hagrid was grinning.

Snape sneered, "Let me guess another misguided sighting of Sirius Black."

"Shut up Snivellus!" Tonks stared aghast at Lupin. He NEVER lost his temper.

"Gentlemen, this not the time-."

"Get out of my face you freak!" came a very familiar voice from behind Rubeus Hagrid. "First you drag me into flames and a whirlwind then you don't wanna get out of my face."

A shove from behind catapulted Hagrid forward and sent him crashing into the kitchen table. Eleven pairs of eyes turned toward a furious Sirius Black standing in front of the fireplace...


	4. The Third Chapter

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...poor me...**

**I also would like to thank RenaTamer for letting me use his character: Black**

**The Third Chapter**

Harry Potter, the Boy who lived, wasn't feeling much alive at the moment.

The battle at the Ministry had claimed his Godfather's life, and in a strange way his own as well. Sirius' name had been cleared in the papers during the last week. As if it helped, if Dumbledore was to be believed. Dumbledore had insisted that the rumors regarding Sirius' resurrection were just that, rumors. The hope that had flared briefly when he heard Shacklebolt's story had crashed with devastating speed.

Harry sighed. It doesn't help that the Dursleys are their usual selves, by treating him like a freak accident. If he had more energy he would be cursing his parents for leaving him in this situation.

Harry was exhausted. His morning had been very busy. He had mowed the lawn, fixed breakfast and chopped a whole crate of carrots and it was only 11:00. Time for him to make tea. He looked out the kitchen window at the garden he would need to weed later, when the doorbell rang.

Aunt Petunia's footsteps headed towards the front door and Harry, relieved that he wouldn't have to face strangers at the moment, started to fill up the kettle.

Aunt Petunia's gasp had him drop the kettle and run to her.

"Aunt Petunia, what...?" Harry stared.

"Hello, Harry." Lupin said with a smile.

Black looked at the gathering of freakish people, and he thought that The Void had finally come. Well better late than never. There was a chick at the table with PURPLE hair. I mean come on fashion girl. Where have you BEEN! Then was this old dude with waist length hair and beard. You know I liked the Hippie era but this ridiculous. Then there was a lady who looked like an older version of Sora but without the cap. Black hair in a bun, no wonder she looks like she swallowed lemons.

Wait, a scent. Like a dog, no a wolf. This dude with the mouse hair and red eyes. No way! Oh well we "evil" creatures need to stick together, I suppose.

Walking forward to introduce himself to a fellow canine, he halted in his tracks when a disgusting odor materialized in front him.

"Dude, do you wash, ever?" he said with a voice muffled by the hand in front of his nose.

This remark was met by two varied reactions, were-dude chuckled and stink-dude pointed a black stick in his eye.

"Keep you little stick to yourself if you wanna live." he growled at Snape.

The hippie suddenly spoke, "Severus step back please, this is not the time for old arguments."

"I'll get you for that, Black." he hissed.

"Get me what? Get me a present?" Black replied with an obvious smirk. Wereman's chuckles turned into a full belly laugh.

The black eyes became wild. "You'll pay for this."

Black checked his pockets, shrugged and strolled to the laughing wereman.

"What's his problem?" he asked.

Wereman abruptly stopped laughing and stared at Black. "Sirius, I'm so glad your back." It was said with quiet sincerity.

Black frowned ominously. "Who's this Serius, everyone keeps referring to?"

Silence fell over the room as they stared at him perplexed.

"You mean, you don't remember?" this came from the purple-haired chick.

"Remember what?" he asked.

"Oh dear, we seem to have a problem." Dumbledore sighed.

The noise had finally subsided. Snape had left, still furious at Black for sniffing him and commenting on it. Kreacher had been retrieved from the attic where he had run screaming. The portraits were quieted and everyone was finally breathing calmly again.

The general consensus was that Sirius had amnesia. Apparently it was a Muggle ailment that struck when they had too much to drink, or if they hit their heads hard enough. Both applied to Sirius as he was emptying his fifth firewhiskey bottle in an hour ("This stuff is great!"). Not even Mad-Eye can drink so much, and that's on a good day. The bump on his head was a different matter altogether. Molly was still fussing like a mother hen over Sirius.

Remus was busy telling Sirius his basic history. Bill and Charlie were filling him in on the magical world, and the twins were supplying him with the information on Hogwarts, pranks and Voldemort.

Sirius kept drinking.

"Sirius, maybe you should switch to butterbeer." Remus began worriedly.

"I don' like buttah..." his voice was slurring, "makes shtuff stake, no taste, taste funny. Yes."

"Oh boy he _is_ sloshed," Fred said a smile.

"Drunk. Me? I never get drunk. I get tipsy, no topsy. Flower power man!" he said to Dumbledore.

"So who's this Harold Pot... Potting... Potter! Right Harpy Potter, who is he again?" he slurred.

"HARRY Potter is your Godson." Remus said exasperated.

"Godson, right. What's a Godson?" Sirius looked confused.

"Speaking of Harry, Remus." Dumbledore slotted in, "Maybe you and Sirius should go and fetch him."

"Although, maybe you should give him a pepper-up potion first…" he added.

"Prof…Professor Lupin!"

"Harry I haven't been your professor for 2 years. You can call me Remus, or Lupin, or Moony." Lupin smiled.

"You get away!" Aunt Petunia gasped

Harry spun around. He had forgotten she was there.

"_She_ and that AWFUL boy talked about you," she continued in a furious tone, "you're a were-"

Aunt Petunia's words were cut off by Lupin's hand fixing itself across her mouth.

"Speak another word and you will lose your voice for a week." Lupin whispered menacingly.

Aunt Petunia dropped to the floor in a dead faint.

Harry laughed tentatively, "Well, at least you didn't use magic."

"Who said I didn't" Lupin replied with a twinkle in his eye.

Harry smirked.

"Hey, Wolfgang. Let me do the traveling arrangements from now on!" Sirius announced in a sarcastic voice. "You people are out of your bloody minds! Travel by fire and inanimate objects. You're seriously getting on my nerves."

Harry had paled at the first words that came from the tall man with the dark hair, who came stumbling inside the door. Then he rushed forward and grabbed the man around the waist shouting.

"Sirius…" Harry was speechless.

Black looked with a bewildered face as the boy clung to him. With a baffled and a bit ticked off voice he said, "Why are you hugging me?"

He turned to Lupin with the same question "Why is he hugging me?"

Lupin just smiled at him and said "That's Harry."

The shock was very visible on his face as he pointed at the boy "This is Harry? THIS is Harry?"

"Yup"

With that said he grabbed Harry by the shoulders and literally picked him up and placed him an arm's length from him "Uh, thanks? But please," he hissed "don't ever hug me again, or you might find yourself in a nearby medical facility."

Harry blushed, stepped back and muttered, "Sorry."

Black saw that his words had actually hurt the boy in someway, still, he didn't care much, cause this boy was the object of most of his troubles so far.

Harry was still reeling from the shock of seeing his godfather alive and well here in Surrey. Despite the forewarning of Lupin's letter that he was bringing a surprise. Lupin, firmly gripping Sirius' arm, had moved to the living room and was busy seating him into an armchair. Sirius still looked like thundercloud.

"Sirius just sit for a moment while I explain to Harry and make you a nice cup of tea." Lupin said to Sirius.

"I don't want tea I want to go home." Sirius muttered.

Lupin looked at him funny and stepped into the hallway.

"Harry the situation has developed some complications." Lupin started to say.

Harry stared at him with a blank expression.

"Sirius has some difficulty with his recall of certain events."

If such a thing was possible, Harry looked even more baffled.

Lupin muttered under his breath "might as well tell it to him straight. Harry, Sirius has lost his memory. No that's not right, he has forgotten, he has full blown amnesia." Lupin finished with a sigh. "It seems he has someone else's memories."

"So you're saying he doesn't remember me." Harry asked hesitantly.

Lupin looked relieved, "Yes that's exactly what I'm saying. So this is going to be a very difficult adjusting period for all of us. You need to be patient, and understanding even if he is very insulting towards anyone."

"So have you come to take me away for the holidays or do I still need to stay here?" Harry asked.

"no, we have come-" Lupin began.

"Yo Wolfgang where's the tea you promised?" Amnesia-Sirius yelled from the living room. The shout echoed through the house, and slow ponderous footsteps sounded from upstairs.

Harry looked worriedly at Lupin. "That's Dudley," he whispered, "what are you going to do?"

"I-"

"Hey look it's a real life-size pig." Came the shouted laughter from the other room.

There was a squeal and the thunderous footsteps sounded through the solid oak front door. There was an almighty crash and Dudley slithered senseless to the floor next to his mother.


	5. The Fourth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...poor me...**

**The Fourth Chapter**

"Oops!"

Harry and Lupin peered around the doorway and saw Dudders sprawled on the floor on top of Aunt Petunia.

Harry walked to Dudley motionless form and saw, with some disappointment, that he was still breathing. Lupin stood next to him and let out a low whistle.

"He's huge."

Harry pulled a face, "He's been dieting."

"Doesn't look like it."

Harry snorted, "Help to pick him up before he squashes her." He said.

Harry took hold of Dudley's shirt while Lupin grabbed the seat of his pants, and tried to,

"HEAVE."

Nothing.

Dudley's bulk didn't even budge.

"Hey Sirius come give us a hand." Lupin said breathing hard.

"Heck no, I'm not touching a pig." Sirius protested, hands raised as if warding off great evil.

"Come on Sirius, just help us move him." Lupin said in an irritated tone. "He's going to crush his mother."

"Oh all right, if you'll stop nagging."

Sirius stomped over grabbed Dudley's legs, and with seemingly no effort whatsoever picked him up and plonked him down next to the stairs.

Harry stared.

"Hey kid where is my tea?" Sirius demanded.

Harry frowned. "Get your own tea."

Sirius' hand twitched, and his eyes flashed red for a moment. He breathed deep, turned away and walked slowly back to the living room.

"Harry...you should be a little more patient with Sirius, considering his condition." Lupin started to say.

Sirius interrupted by shouting, "I don't have a bloody condition. You people are driving me nuts."

Lupin sighed, "Harry let's go and pack your trunk before it gets worse."

"Before what gets worse?" Harry asked as they walked away.

"Never mind."

Sirius snorted and sat down on the couch, resting his feet on the little glass table that promptly shattered under his weight. "Oops again!"

Black sat on the couch staring at the pieces of glass that, until seconds ago, had been a coffee table. Here he was amongst REAL people for a change and they faint at the sight of him with these _wizards._

He was still recovering from that bloody, Pepper-up potion they gave him. He'd always wanted to smoke but literally was ridiculous.

He started wandering through the house.

At least they had a nice house with _normal_ things like _television _and microwaves and a _computer_. They had a computer. Ooh, cyberspace. He walked to the desk and sat down, breathed in the smell of hardware and wires and relaxed completely.

As he was reaching for the power button, footsteps sounded down the stairs, and he quickly got up before that brat found a reason to fetch him.

"Hey Sirius come on we're leaving." Lupin called.

"Finally." he shouted back. _Oh no_, he thought _more crazy people and spinning and fires and stuff._

Dragging his feet he followed them outside to the back of the house, and looked longingly back to the house. Wolfgang was holding an old sock in his hand while holding a huge trunk in the other. The brat had a birdcage with, _is that an owl? _in the one hand and a broomstick in the other. The owl, he tried to pass to Black who looked at it and said.

"What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Just hold her while I strap my broom to my back." Harry said.

"What, are you now a housekeeper?" Black snorted. "And who's the she you're talking about?"

Harry stared at him, "I keep forgetting you don't remember. The broom I use to play Quidditch, and the _she_ is Hedwig, the owl you're holding."

A girl owl? Now she would be a pleasure holding.

Black brought the cage level with his face, poked his finger through the bars to scratch her head and crooned, "Aren't you a pretty girl owl."

Bad move.

"OUCH!"

Black snatched his hand back and mumbling words he was glad nobody heard, sucked at the offended digit and glared at the owl.

The brat stifled a laugh, but Black heard him, and glared daggers at him but before he could do or say anything, Lupin grabbed them both by their arms and said, "Here we go!"

"What did I tell you about touching me, you..."

And once again, his world went black.

Their arrival at the Burrow was a tangle of arms and legs with a screeching owl, a trunk and a wobbling broom.

Harry managed to untangle himself first and stared aghast at the long claw marks on his arm that were oozing blood. The fresh cuts were burning like fire but he simply could not remember how they had got there.

Lupin lay groaning on the grass and muttered, "I'm getting too old for this."

Sirius turned on his stomach and managed to get to his knees and promptly became sick all over Harry's trunk.

"Sirius, are you all right?" Harry asked while holding his nose.

Sirius gave him a baleful look, "Do I look okay?"

Lupin got up and stared at Harry, "You're bleeding."

The slamming of the back door caused Harry to spin around and he was engulfed in bushy brown hair and gripped in a chokehold.

"Hermione...can't breathe...help...Ron..."

"Hermione let him go. You're gonna kill him."

"That would be fun to watch," Sirius smirked.

Hermione released Harry and stared at Sirius, and screamed.

"SIRIUS. Harry it's SIRIUS! Sirius you're alive." Hermione rushed forward and grabbed him around the waist.

Ron stared at Sirius his jaw hanging on the floor. Ginny rushed forward and grabbed Sirius around the neck.

Sirius staggered slightly with the combined weight of the girls, before detaching both gently but firmly from his neck and waist.

"Girls I appreciate the gesture, but I REALLY don't like to be touched." Sirius said.

Ginny ignored him and stood on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. For the first time, since Harry had seen him, Sirius had a smile on his face. The kind of smile that had Harry frowning as jealousy hit him in the gut.

No one else seemed to notice because Sirius turned to Ron and commented, "Close your mouth, you're going to swallow a bug."

Ron closed his mouth and swallowed nervously. He turned to Harry about to say something when he saw the blood. He paled and whispered, "You're bleeding."

Harry shrugged, "It's nothing."

Ron stepped forward and took Harry's arm. "It's not nothing. These are claw marks."

Ron's observations had attracted everyone else's attention.

Lupin stepped forward, "Harry, let me see."

Harry pulled his arm out of Ron's grasp and turned away. "It's all right. Don't worry about it." he walked to pick up his trunk when he saw the mess on it. "Aww Sirius that's disgusting!"

Sirius was unconcerned, "I hate this strange way you people travel. I get sick. Your trunk was in the wrong place."

"_Scourgify_."

Lupin tucked his wand away and said, "Why don't we all go inside to wait for Molly and Arthur while Harry gets settled in?"

The group gathered Harry's things and headed towards the house, when the garden came alive with activity. Little potatoes with feet jumped out of holes everywhere and streamed towards the field next to the Burrow.

Ron muttered, "I wonder if it is that Muggle poison dad used that the gnomes are leaving?"

They shrugged and stepped in to the house, Ron leading the way to his room with Harry and Hermione, still beaming, following.

"Where is everybody?" Harry panted as he struggled up the stairs with his trunk.

Ron, holding his Firebolt, replied "Mom, Dad, Bill, Charlie went to the order meeting. Fred and George also went but they are going to their shop in Diagon Alley afterwards. The others should be home any moment."

They had reached the top of the house and Ron opened the door to his room for them to go in. the room was once again cramped with four beds on the inside.

"Fred and George are with us again for tonight," Ron said with a grimace "Their flat is being decorated and Sirius and Remus have their room and Fleur has Percy's room."

"Oh Harry," Hermione gushed "isn't it wonderful that Sirius is back! I mean..."

"It's not as wonderful as you think it is." Harry interrupted. "Sirius has amnesia, he can't remember ANYTHING. He calls me a brat, he can't do magic, he's aggressive - well he was always aggressive - but he's more than usual, and he's stronger. He picked up Dudley with one hand. And he's hiding something. There's something else. I said something to him and his eyes flashed red. The only person whose eyes are red that I know of is Voldemort."

Ron and Hermione's eyes were popping out of their heads.

Ron cleared his throat, "Uhm...Harry maybe you should tell someone else."

Harry looked at him skeptically, "And whom do you suggest I tell? No one will believe me."

"Well maybe tell Bill, he knows a lot of ...stuff." Ron said.

"Ok I'll talk to him in the morning." Harry said.

Before they could discuss it anymore, sounds of Apparating came from the kitchen.

"Mom's back, that means dinner is soon" Ron said a look of ecstasy on his face.

Harry and Hermione laughed all the way down the stairs.

Black sat on one of the wooden chairs in the tiny kitchen. Wolfgang and the cute red haired girl were just lounging as if waiting for better days. _Man, this place is just as boring as that old creaky mansion I was at a few hours ago,_ he thought with a sigh.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK

He looked lazily towards the sound, and there stood four people all with the same red hair as the girl. With out even looking at them all he went back at staring out the window at the night sky.

"Oh Sirius" _Again with the Sirius calling_ "I'm so glad you are here. Harry must be so happy you're back!" The plump red haired woman exclaimed as she started with dinner. Grumbling under his breath he replied, "That's debatable..."

He looked at this woman that was standing in front of the pots. She was waving that stick thing around again, and there, in front of his eyes, the kitchenware came to life. _Blasted wizards_ he thought.

Pots and pans were flying around his head, and the spices! He didn't even want to look.

After a minute or so, all was calm again and there before him was a bowl of sweet smelling soup. "It's been awhile..."he said a little bit too loud.

"Don't worry so much Sirius, go ahead and eat." the sincerity in the woman's voice was too much.

He stood up and said in a clear voice "I'm going outside for fresh air." with that he walked outside. The night swallowed him in.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into a kitchen that was completely silent. Molly looked on the verge of tears and the others were in shock. As soon as Molly saw Harry she immediately wiped her eyes and crushed him to her in a fierce hug.

"Oh Harry it's so good to see you. Oh look at you, you look starved. Didn't those people feed you at all? Come sit down and eat something." all this was said while Molly pulled Harry towards the table sat him down and put a bowl of soup and six slices of bread in front of him.

Harry looked up and saw Mr. Weasley, Bill (the eldest Weasley brother) and Charlie (second brother) standing there.

Harry stood up from his chair and walked around the room greeting the newcomers. "Hi, Harry, how was your summer?" Mr. Weasley asked with a smile.

He gave a small smile and replied "Short for one, and, well, interesting, to say the least."

"Yes, I imagine it would be." Mr. Weasley laughed. With that, the downtrodden mood was broken, and laughter filled the kitchen as they all sat down to eat dinner.

Bill still lingered in the kitchen after dinner, even though everyone else had already gone up to bed. He didn't admit it to the others, but the reason he stayed in the kitchen was because he was worried about Sirius and wanted to go check on him, since he has been outside for more than an hour now.

Silently he walked outside, the night air greeting him as he did. Taking a deep breath, he stepped onto the lawn and started scanning the surrounding area. He didn't see anything so he started walking around calling Sirius' name "Sirius! Where are you?" he fell silent and listened for a reply, but none came. He shouted again "Hey! Black! Where the-"

Bill fell silent as he made headfirst contact with what seemed to be a tree. _Oh, damn. Where did this tree come from? It wasn't here before. _Bill looked up and was met with a pair of glowing red eyes. "WHAT THE-"

Bill whipped out his wand and pointed it at the red eyes.

The eyes seemed to slant as if to examine Bill, then out of the darkness came a low growl that seemed to be mocking him "What are you going to do? Poke me to" there was a pause "death?" the voice chuckled

The human called Bill was pointing a twig at him, _This is getting monotonous. _With a smirk he replied, "What are you going to do? Poke me to" _This is funny, to say the least_ "death?" he chuckled again

His little joke seemed to spark something in the human's eyes as he let out a flurry of words, well, to Black; it was a load of mumbo jumbo.

_Expelliarmus : _For some reason, the flower he held flew out of his hand "Hey!"

_Stupefy : _Something like electricity went through his body "Huh?"

_Immobulus : _Strangely enough, his foot went numb "That's weird"

_Incendio : _the grass he was standing on suddenly burst into flames "Whoa!"

_Incarcerous : _Out of nowhere, ropes wrapped around him, with a shrug, they fell of again.

_Diffindo : _Suddenly he had a splitting headache and he groaned "Ugh"

_Expecto Patronum : _A shiny white eagle erupted from the twig Bill was holding. "Nice!"

Bill was stunned that none of his spells seemed to be working. _This is not good._ Then suddenly something clicked. _The tombs in Egypt..._

"Are you...Set?" he asked hesitantly._ This is so not possible,_ he kept telling himself. _If he is... then we are in big trouble._ "The Egyptian god of death?"

"I'm NOT Egyptian. I'm...how do you know about that?" the apparition asked.

"I'm a curse-breaker. I work in the Pyramids with the dead people, you know." Bill replied, _he is oh shi..._

"But anyway, NO I'm the avatar, the General of the Void." he replied.

"Oh. Bloody. Hell." Bill swore. "What are you doing HERE?"

"I wish I knew. Maybe there is someone who needs my services." he said an evil grin.

"We already have hell here, we don't need anymore." Bill said.

"I don't think so. This looks nothing like home. And by the way, you wizards are crazy. No wonder I don't allow you in hell." he said frustrated. "It's all your fault I'm stuck here, with people calling me serious."

"Oh damn, Sirius." Bill said suddenly, "Have you seen him he was walking around here somewhere."

Set stared at Bill. "You've been confusing ME with dude Serious, whoever he is. I've been hugged and kissed, well the kiss wasn't _too_ bad, and she was kinda cute. And touched, STOP touching me!" he was very upset.

"Hey chill! Are you...are you saying _you're_ Sirius Black...don't EVER touch my sister again." Bill yelled.

"Jeez, you people are touchy. Why not?"

"Because I said so. But we have to figure out what to do about you." Bill said.

"Do about me?" Set asked.

"Yeah, you're not supposed to be here, so you gotta get back." Bill explained. "We should talk to Dumbledore, he'll know what to do."

They were walking back to the house and Bill stepped onto the porch and turned back to Set to say something, when Set stepped literally out of the darkness.

Bill stared.

_Oh_

_Bloody_

_Hell._

The little village of Godric's Hollow was asleep. The streets were silent and empty except for a single cat chasing a mouse to the rundown house at the end of an overgrown lane. The trees mapping the road to the little house were old, their branches swaying and creaking with the silent breeze.

Had someone been looking outside their window they would have seen the branches stop moving and a thick mist covering the entire town. The cat chased the field mouse into the rundown house and saw two figures coming hand in hand down the stairs. He hissed and scrambled out the door with a woman's laughter following him.


	6. The Fifth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...poor me...**

**The Fifth Chapter**

**I would like to thank Renatamer for letting me use his character: Black**

Set seemed to step out of the darkness as if he had it on like a cloak. As he looked at him his eyes went wide with shock

_Oh_

_Bloody_

_Hell _

Standing almost 7 foot tall, 8 if you counted the ear guards of his helm, his muscled body looked to be made of living shadow, almost disappearing in the darkness of the night. His arm and leg guards where made of black metal and had thick, razor sharp blades sprouting from them. Each of his upper arms also sprouted 3 large blades while a huge metal shoulder pad covered his left side. The tufts of fur that seemed almost separate from his body, was a deep smoky gray... but the eyes... they glowed bright crimson red

As he stepped into the light streaming from the kitchen windows, Set disappeared and Sirius stood in front of him.

"Well, as you don't like being called Sirius and I can't call you Set what shall your new name be, oh master of hell?" Bill asked.

"Are you mocking me?"

"Me! Mock you. Never." Bill said solemnly.

Set's/Sirius' eyes narrowed, "I like you. You've got guts. Call me Black."

"Yes oh Dark One Formerly Known as Sirius."

Black smirked.

Grinning both of them stepped into the kitchen and stopped. Molly, Arthur, the twins, Charlie and Rebus all stood in the kitchen staring at them in concern.

"Are the two of you all right? We heard some shouting and saw spell casting. Were there any intruders?" Molly asked concerned.

"No Mum, we were just talking about life and death and stuff. Siri...Black wanted to know about Egypt. Apparently he has family there." Bill replied.

Fred and George stared at Bill and then looked at each other.

_We'll get him tomorrow..._

Breakfast at the Dursleys was a quiet affair as they contemplated with joy the departure of that Potter boy.

"Bloody menace that boy. Just like his father. No good." Uncle Vernon muttered.

"Those freakish people coming here and upsetting my Dudders." Aunt Petunia said furiously. "More bacon dear?"

At the mention of bacon, Dudley whimpered and sank even lower in his chair, quite a feat as there was absolutely no space left for him to do so.

"How dare my freak of a sister leave him here to spoil our peaceful and normal family?" Aunt Petunia went on.

Ding. Dong.

"Dudders darling go see who's at the door for Mummy." Aunt Petunia.

Dudley got up slowly and shuffled to the front door.

He opened the door and stared at the man and beautiful woman standing on the doorstep.

The woman stepped forward, "You must be Dudley. You've grown quite a bit since I last saw you, but you were only a baby then." she was even more beautiful when she smiled. "Is your mother home?"

Dudley nodded dumbly. He just stared.

"Dudders darling who is at the door?" Aunt Petunia called.

Dudley cleared his throat and replied hoarsely. "It's a lady who wants to see you, mum."

"Coming my angel!"

Heels clicked along the wooden floor of the hallway as Petunia Dursley walked to the front door. She looked up at the visitors standing on the porch and stopped.

She stared.

"Hello Petunia." Lily Potter said to her sister.

The call to the Aurors at the Ministry came at 08:34. There was a severe magical disturbance at the residence of Harry Potter, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. Twenty of the best Aurors immediately Apparated to the location. Although it is known that Harry Potter was currently safely ensconced at the Weasley residence called the Burrow, they nevertheless had to see what Death Eaters are harassing the Dursleys.

Upon arrival they saw the three Dursleys cowering in a corner of their living room, while a furious red headed woman held her wand over them. Just behind her an equally enraged black-haired man was holding her by her wand arm saying, "Lily calm down, I'm also angry but hurting them isn't going to help. We'll find him; Dumbledore will know where he is. Let's go see Remus."

She seemed to calm down and they were about to Apparate when one of the young _stupid _Auror cleared his throat. The witch spun around casting spells as she turned. In 10 seconds half of the Aurors were lying on the ground unconscious.

The remaining Aurors stared. Before they could start casting the man grabbed her hand and they disappeared with a crack.

"Well it's certainly good to have James and Lily Potter back." Elphias Doge said grinning.

Tonks immediately Apparated to Hogsmeade to find Dumbledore. _Maybe Madame Rosmerta knows where he is._

Remus' flat was empty. The smell of disuse lingered in the air, and a centimeter of dust covered everything.

"He hasn't been here for a while, and it doesn't look like he'll be back anytime soon." James said frowning. "We should find Sirius."

"But we've already checked his old place, he doesn't live there anymore." Lily said panicking a little. "Oh James what if we don't find Harry. Petunia didn't even know the names of the people who came to fetch him. I wouldn't be able tot handle it if something happened to my little Harry."

"You'll be able to handle anything. And Harry's our son, he can take care of himself." James said drawing Lily close for a hug. _At least I hope he can, _he thought to himself.

"Why don't we go to Sirius' old home, the Black manor and see if they maybe know where Sirius is..." James began.

"But James they're all Death Eaters." Lily protested.

"Not actually, they just supported Voldemort and his ideals but they weren't part of the clan." he explained.

"Do you really think they'll allow me in the house?" Lily asked.

James smiled, "Sweetheart, since when have you let that stop you!"

Lily grinned, "That's true." She lifted her face and James kissed her softly.

They broke apart and James took her hand as they Apparated to London, Grimmauld Place.

"What number is it James?" Lily asked as she stared at the filthy houses.

"Um, I don't, suddenly I can't seem to remember." James frowned.

"Really, well maybe there's some kind of charm on the house. We can maybe go the ministry. They'll be able to tell us where..."

"We are not going to the ministry. We are going to find Dumbledore, he will know. Harry must go to Hogwarts after all." James said firmly.

A voice spoke from behind them.

"There's no need really. I'm right here."

James turned in surprise, "Headmaster!" he walked forward to shake Dumbledore's hand. "We're so glad to see you."

Lily stepped forward to kiss him on the cheek and Dumbledore chuckled quietly.

"I must say I am quite surprised to see the two of you. We were under the impression that you were dead." the blue eyes twinkled.

"So were we." Lily replied.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.

James shrugged, "We have no idea, one moment we were, you know, and the next we're in Godric's Hollow."

"No actually I don't, but let's go inside. It is not good to stand outside and discuss this." Dumbledore smiled. He turned suddenly to Tonks. "Forgive me Nymphadora, James, Lily this is Nymphadora Tonks Auror. Nymphadora this is James and Lily Potter, parents of Harry Potter."

Tonks grinned, "I know, but please call me Tonks. My mother saddled me with Nymphadora, but then she would as her name is Andromeda."

James grinned, "Family of Sirius are you?"

She smiled, "Definitely."

"James would the two of you like to join the Order again?" Dumbledore questioned as they crossed the street.

The Potters grinned at each other, "Of course we would!" they replied together.

"Thought you might." Dumbledore said. "Well then, welcome to the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London."

Comprehension dawned on the Potters' faces, "Fidelius charm." Lily whispered.

The battered door of number twelve emerged out of nowhere between numbers eleven and thirteen, followed swiftly by dirty walls and grimy windows. James stared at the worn stone steps and door with its shabby, scratched paint. "I'm assuming that Sirius' parents are no longer alive and living here."

"You assume correct, Sirius granted us the use of the house when Voldemort returned to power. It is practically impenetrable with my added protection, not to boast of my own abilities." Dumbledore said.

"Where is Remus, Headmaster?" Lily asked once they were inside.

Dumbledore placed his finger in front of lips for silence and pointed towards the kitchen. "I'll explain there..."

They walked quietly to the kitchen, and Tonks closed the door behind them. James and Lily looked curiously at Dumbledore waiting for him to continue. Dumbledore beamed at them for a moment, and then asked, "Would you like some tea or something to eat?"

James shot Lily a look and they both grinned, "Tea would be fine Headmaster." he replied. They both knew from experience, it would do them no good to try and hurry the old Headmaster along. He will tell them what they needed to know in his own good time.

The Potters made themselves comfortable on the wooden chairs, by casting cushioning charms and waited for Dumbledore.

Dumbledore twirled his wand and a silver tea tray appeared. Lily poured four cups of tea, added sugar and handed to the others and passed the plate of sandwiches around.

"The reason we need to be quiet is because of Mrs. Black's portrait. She is quite ah, displeased about all the strangers in her house and expresses her opinion quite volubly."

James snorted, "I can imagine. She was quite adamant that Sirius has nothing to do with me. She called me 'that Potter boy'. We were the worst bunch of blood traitors since the Weasleys and the Prewetts."

Dumbledore sighed, "Quite. Remus Lupin currently finds himself at the aforementioned Weasleys along with Sirius. They are there as extra security for Harry. He is, once again, Voldemort's main target."

James frowned. "Sirius. But I thought...he was." James shook his head. "Never mind. Tell us about Voldemort."

Dumbledore related the events of the previous year, the Triwizard Tournament and Voldemort's return. Then he started telling them about the events that had happened in the last three weeks.

"And with the two of you returning I don't know how Harry will cope with the news. I am concerned about him. With the prophecy hanging over his head." Dumbledore sighed again.

"We're here now and we will help him muddle through it and help him prepare." James said firmly. "Is he at the Weasleys' house now?" he asked.

Dumbledore nodded.

"Then maybe we should go there now."

Before Dumbledore or Tonks could stop them James and Lily were out the kitchen door and headed to the front door.

Dumbledore looked at Tonks and she stared back. She giggled, he smiled and suddenly the kitchen was filled with hysterical laughter that spilled outside as they stumbled after the Potters and Apparated to the Burrow.

Breakfast at the Burrow was a noisy affair, with all of the Weasleys (except Percy) Harry, Hermione, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Between passing the platters of food to others the jokes and laughter it had the sound of freedom and joy.

Earlier the morning Bill was rudely awakened by the terrible twins and interrogated thoroughly as to his mysterious meeting with Sirius. The Twins, now in possession of the Truth, had already terrorized the poor Sirius to the point of no return. Sirius/Black in return had promised retribution as soon as he knew how this crazy world worked.

Bill had planned to contact Dumbledore after breakfast to tell him about Black or rather about Set. Dumbledore could then decide when to tell the others...and Harry. Bill felt his heart twist as he thought about Harry. He just regained his Godfather _again_ to lose him _again_. Damn Voldemort.

The kid doesn't have parents and his only relatives hate him. Thank Merlin he was friends with Ron and the Weasleys had practically adopted him.

Bill's somber thoughts were reflected on his face, when he looked up and saw the twins staring at him. They looked from his face to Black and then to Harry and back to Bill, and then nodded to Bill as if to say, _we understand._

Bill sighed and let a genuine smile cross his face as Fleur walked into the kitchen and sat next to him. He kissed her on the cheek and whispered, "Good morning, Flower. Sleep well?"

Her eyes sparkled into his, "Now Beell, how did you know I slept vell?" she asked.

He smirked, and was about to reply when sounds of Apparating came from outside the kitchen door.

Bill immediately jumped up with his wand in hand and his heart in his throat. _They weren't expecting any visitors today._ Remus and the twins joined him at the back door while Charlie, Arthur and Black (after prodding from Remus "Stop it") headed to the front door. Molly was already herding the children and Fleur to the living room to use the emergency Floo connection.

The sound of more people Apparating came from outside and everybody's muscles tensed.

There was a shout from outside...

...a reply...

...and suddenly a calm knock sounded on the back door.

Bill jumped, cleared his throat, and called, "Who's there?"

"Albus Dumbledore and Nymphadora Tonks." came the reply.

Bill looked at Lupin and he looked puzzled, so he wasn't expecting Tonks today. "Headmaster we weren't expecting you today."

"Ah yes."

A contemplative silence.

Then.

_"Expecto Patronum."_

A silver misty phoenix floated through the door into the kitchen circling the room twice before resting on one of the chairs before dissipating...

Bill looked to Remus for confirmation, who grinned and nodded his head. Fred headed after the others to give them the all clear, while Remus opened door.

"Headmaster welcome. You're just in time for breakfast." None of the past minutes' tension was evident in his voice.

The others had trooped back into the kitchen and resumed breakfast albeit a bit quieter. Tonks slipped past Dumbledore, who was still standing the doorway, to give Remus a kiss on the cheek and took a place at the table that Molly just set.

"Come sit down Headmaster." Molly invited.

"Thank you Molly. I will as soon as I introduce my guests. I hope that won't be inconvenient for you?" he asked.

"Of course not." Molly twirled her wand and a couple more place were set at the table.

Dumbledore stepped smartly to one side and waved his hand as if to invite someone inside.

Harry looked up from where he was sitting and saw two figures silhouetted in the doorway. They stepped into the cool of the kitchen and his heart stopped.

_It can't be._

As if from far away he heard Dumbledore's voice, "Everyone, may I present James and Lily Potter..."

Harry's head swam and his eyes blurred as he took in the faces of the two people standing in the doorway. He stood up abruptly, the movement knocking his chair backwards, and said in a hoarse voice, "That's not funny."

Everything seemed to in slow motion. He saw Lupin go pale and grab his chair for support. Mrs. Weasley gasped and stared at him. The only thought in his mind, _it can't be, it can't be..._ He was frozen in that spot. Darkness covered his vision and he swayed.

Lily moved forward her hands stretched out to her son. "Harry..."

Her voice sparked movement in Harry. In the blink of an eye his wand was out and pointed at Lily while shouted, "No be quiet! You can't be her she's dead!"

Magical energy was coming off Harry in waves that rattled the windows. "You can't be her..."

Lily tried again tears running down her face, "Harry-"

"NO! _Stupefy!"_

Harry turned and ran out of room. Ron and Hermione stood up when Lily tried to follow Harry. They pointed their wands at the newcomers.

"No! Stay away from Harry. You might have fooled Dumbledore into believing you but we won't." Ron snarled.

Keeping their wands trained on Lily and James they backed out of the room.

Black sat at the table, mourning the wonderful breakfast he had lost. _Bloody humans, _he thought, _they always make such a fuss over everything. _"I thought they were his parents? Why is he running away?" he asked the group as he looked out the front door. _That brat of a boy actually tried to do something to his own mother! How stupid can you get? Well, it would have been fun to see the effect of the, spell was it? Aw well... _

He got up and went over to the woman who was plainly shocked. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked the red head. The color of her hair was very familiar as well. She looked at him, with tears still streaming down her cheeks. _Crazy..._

"Oh Sirius!" she cried and buried her face in his chest. _Not again! _

He gently, but firmly pushed her away "I thought I told these people that I don't like to be touched?"

She looked at him; shock in her eyes, then went over to the guy called James. "What do you think you are doing? Can't you see she's distraught!" he growled at Black.

Black just stared at him with a smirk "What ever. Just don't touch me again" with that he walked back to his seat and started on a long awaited breakfast.

Before he could start, he saw Bill glaring at him. He looked at him, and mouthed "Don't look at me; I don't have a clue on what happened."

"Harry, stop running. Harry! HARRY!" Hermione called her voice rising as she stared at the figure moving away from them. She looked at Ron and asked, "Should we..."

Ron stared after Harry, "Let's go after him, he might do something stupid." They started running in the direction Harry had gone. After a while they stopped running and started searching the field for Harry's hiding place.

"Hermione, d'you think...it's really them." Ron started.

"I don't know. It's not possible for people to come back from the dead, but Sirius came back and now Harry's parents...I mean they could be imposters from Voldemort, who came to kill Harry...but to fool Dumbledore." Hermione looked worried. "Let's get Harry."

Someone crashed through the undergrowth. Hermione and Ron whipped around, their wands pointed at the intruder. Bill stopped in front of them gasping for breath, "Don't...put away...wands."

They lowered their wands and waited for him to straighten. "I need to start playing Quidditch again." He looked at the wary Ron and Hermione, "Where's Harry?"

"We're trying to find him." Ron replied looking at Bill curiously. "Is it...?"

"It's them. They are real and alive." Bill replied. "And they want to speak to Harry."

Ron grimaced, "Good luck at finding him."

"Bill is that you?" a voice came from behind Bill.

Bill spun around, "Harry, you okay?"

Harry grimaced.

Bill grinned, "Stupid question, right?"

Harry hesitated, "About Sirius, I need to ask about Sirius."

Bill stopped smiling, _I hope he doesn't know about Black, or maybe he should know._

"What do want to know?" Bill asked.

"When Sirius and Lupin came to fetch me from the Dursleys, I aggravated Sirius and his eyes... they flashed red like Voldemort's. Is there...is that normal?" Harry said.

Bill swallowed nervously, "Well I don't think there is anything to worry about." _I hope not_ "Maybe that's one of the effects of being, I mean coming back from the dead, veil."

"You sure?"

"Well maybe you should ask Dumbledore, just in case." Bill replied. He caught Hermione looking at him as if she knew he was lying. He grinned at her and prayed for forgiveness. "Harry, we need to get back."

Harry frowned, "I'm not going back there."

"Harry don't be stupid-"

"How can all of you just calmly accept it? They died fifteen years ago when Voldemort murderedthem." Harry screamed at him.

Bill was calm, "Harry-"

"I just can't." he gasped.

Bill sighed, "Sorry Harry."

"_Petrificus Totalus"_

Harry's arms snapped to his sides. His legs sprang together. His whole body rigid, he swayed where he stood and then fell flat on his face, stiff as a board. Hermione ran to turn him over and stared aghast at Bill

"Why did you do that?"

Bill shrugged, "He didn't want to listen." He flicked his wand and Harry floated waist height in front of them. Another flick and he started floating towards the house with Bill, Ron and Hermione following.

As they approached the house, Bill noticed the scars on Harry's arm wondering out loud he said, "I thought these wounds were healed last night?"

Ron looked at the new scab on Harry's arm "That's weird, mom healed those. I wonder how that happened?"

Hermione looked aghast "What do you mean? You're telling me the scar is NEW! That's impossible!"

With a sidelong look, Bill glared at the house, "I need to speak to HIM about this"

"Speak to who about what?" they both said in unison.

Bill shook his head, "Oh, nothing, never mind" and he glared again.

Black sat at the window looking at the gathering of people around the floating boy, also seeing Bill eyeing him. And silently he whispered "Looks like he finally figured it out. Poor sap." he chuckled.

_Meanwhile...back at the Ministry...well actually the Department of Mysteries..._

Patrick Crockford stared at the report on his desk. It contained the latest results of tests done in the last week. Ever since his baby son had been found in the Death Chamber, the morning following the reappearance of the Dark Lord, clutching his wand and the television remote control, nothing was normal.

Reports from all the rich old wizarding families said that their house-elves were acting even stranger than usual. Patrick snorted, house-elves were always strange.

In the north there was an uprising with the dragons. Several Muggles had spotted the Common Welsh Greens frolicking. What the heck was 'frolicking'?

Apparently in Bulgaria the Veela were in an uprising and Dementors were starting to run in the streets.

Of course all of the problems above could be as a result of Voldemort's interference. But Patrick didn't think so. Something even stranger was going on, and it was right here in the ministry. The time room had stopped and the veil in the Death Chamber was fluttering in the other direction.

Rumors coming in from the vampire community said something about a great evil, and the werewolves were very restless. According to Gringotts all work in the tombs in Egypt were suspended due to massive cave-ins in the burial chambers.

And even the Muggle Prime Minister was frantic with worry. Several reports from the Muggle animal sanctuaries said that the cats all over were frustrated.

What happened that night here? It had something to do with the veil. Patrick sighed and started composing a letter to Professor Dumbledore, he had to know about this.

Signing off the letter Patrick folded it and stood up from the table. His eye caught the headlines of that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet. Patrick stared; he picked up the paper and read the headlines again. **_James and Lily Potter back from the dead!_**


	7. The Sixth Chapter

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...poor me…**

**The Sixth Chapter**

Black sat at the window looking at the gathering of people around the floating boy, also seeing Bill eyeing him. And silently he whispered "Looks like he finally figured it out. Poor sap." he chuckled.

Harry was elated. Everything in his world seemed to be perfect. Except for his now kooky godfather, everything was great. His parents were back, he didn't have to see the Dursleys ever again and now, according to Dumbledore, his parents were going to teach at Hogwarts.

"So it's settled. James, you are going to teach DADA, and Lily, you are going to give Severus a hand at potions." Dumbledore said with a grin.

_Mom helping in potions? Things can't get any better _Harry thought with an obvious smile. Seems like the smile doesn't want to vanish and even with the scar that seems to start bleeding every morning, he can't stop smiling. Life was great. Not even Voldemort could bother him now.

But apparently his parents, how he loved that word _parents_, had other ideas.

"Headmaster what about the prophecy concerning Voldemort and Harry?" Lily asked.

"Ah yes, I was wondering when you would get around to asking that. I believe that we would be working on Harry's training throughout the year." Dumbledore smiled.

"So when are the others joining us?" Lily asked James.

"They said they'd be here soon. We're picking up Ron, Hermione and Ginny from the Leaky Cauldron, then going to pick up their school books and then off to the Quidditch shop and finally meeting up with Sirius at Ollivanders." James replied. "Oh and we're going to visit the twins' joke shop. I can't wait to see it, apparently they're doing very well."

"Seems like great minds think alike. We were on our way right now." they all spun around as they stared into the eyes of the redhead. "What are you staring at, is there something on my face?"

They all just stared at Ron "You scared us. How long have you been standing there?" James said with relieve evident in his voice.

"Oh, not long. Just heard you say '...going to the twins joke shop.'" he said with a grin.

Harry turned back to his parents "Mom, dad? May I go with them?"

"Sure honey, meet us back here in an hour, ok?" his mom waved at them as Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione ran of to the joke shop.

Dumbledore smiled as he saw Harry vanish _Things are looking up for the boy,_ with that he just waved at the Potters as he said his goodbyes and vanished

CRACK

James turned to Lily and took her hand as they also vanished, into the crowd of people in Diagon ally

Mr. Ollivander had a very busy day so far. Seven 1st year students had already successfully acquired new wands under his excellent supervision.

The bell tinkled and he looked up from where he was stacking newly arrived wands.

He smiled as he saw Remus Lupin, Bill Weasley and a very thin Sirius Black entered his shop.

"Remus! Bill! Sirius! I am delighted to see you again! It sure has been awhile. What brings you three to my humble little shop of wands? A visit perhaps?" he said as he approached them.

Lupin shook his head "Unfortunately not. We're here...how should i put this...to find a new wand for Sirius"

Mr. Ollivander stared, then just as quickly he jumped into action "Then, my friends, you have come to the right place. Here, at Olivander's, there is a wand for every witch, wizard and well, anyone come to think of it. Now let us begin. Sirius please step forward."

"That's it. Now hold out your wand arm please." He measured Sirius from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head.

Mr. Ollivander was flitting through the shelves taking down boxes. "Right then Mr. Black. Try this one. Beech wood and phoenix feather. Twelve inches. Flexible."

Black took the wand and waved it, but it was snatched from his hand almost immediately.

"Oak and unicorn hair. Nine inches. Rather bendy. Try-"

Black had hardly raised the wand before it was snatched from his hand.

"No, no - here, willow and dragon heartstring, ten and a half inches, swishy. Go on, try it out."

Black tried. And tried. And tried. And tried. And tried. And tried.

Late that night after he had tried every single wand on the shelves he said, "Maybe we should come back tomorrow."

Mr. Ollivander took it as a personal insult that no wand could be found for Black and was determined to continue. "No, no. I still have two more wands in the back storeroom. I'll go get them."

Bill had fallen asleep on the spindly chair had Remus was leaning against the door exhausted, but they stirred as Mr. Ollivander returned with the wands in his hands.

He put the boxes on the table, well, the only open space left on the table. "Now, try this one its..." Black took the wand without hearing what Ollivander said. Still, nothing happened. Ollivander sighed, "Well, this is the last one, it's made of Cherry wood and fused with unicorn blood. Don't get me wrong, the unicorn was dying, and it offered its blood. This is a very rare wand. Try it."

Black took the wand from Ollivander and stared at it. Then, to the complete and total horror of everyone watching, a black substance seem to spread through the wand, and when it consumed the entire wand, it simply crumbled in Black's hand.

"Oops." was all Black said as he handed the remaining dust to Ollivander.

Ollivander just stared at him "How... that was my last wand, this has never happened before! I don't have a single wand for you!"

Sirius just looked at him with a very creepy calmness as he pointed to the corner of one of the shelves at the back "What about that long box over there?"

Ollivander swallowed hard as he slowly turned towards where Sirius was pointing. There, at the back was a very long and dark looking wand box, with ancient runes inscribed on the lid. With the moonlight shining through the window, it gave it a very evil black glow.

"No. I can't. I won't! Not that one! It's pure evil! Ancient Egypt vampires tried to get rid of it by selling it to me. There is no way I will ever open or give that wand to anyone!" the pure terror in his eyes made Sirius smile for some reason, which made Mr. Ollivander tremble even more.

"The wand is in your shop, and I want to test it. NOW!" Sirius boomed at Ollivander, even Bill awoke from his sleep. "Wha..." as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Mr. Ollivander stuttered "Please, Sirius, don't make me open it, I beg you, don't!" Sirius just looked at him, then his eyes flashed red "Give. Me. That. WAND!" With Sirius glaring behind him, Ollivander rushed to the box, but instead of picking it up, he used his wand to take it to Sirius. "H...Here...Here you go."

Sirius opened the box and looked at the wand. Even Mr. Ollivander stared, it was at least 25 inches long, like a small sword, it was coated with something like marble. It gleamed in the light of the shop. Sirius' voice yanked Mr. Ollivander from his trance. "What is it made of?"

Mr. Ollivander then like a daze resisted the components of the wand "Ebony wood, Queen Mab's wings, Vampire blood, soaked in Unicorn blood and finally coated with a 100 dementors' breath"

Remus and Bill just stared, none of them even knew there existed such a wand, much less be up for sale. Mr. Ollivander just stared as a smiling Sirius picked up the wand. Then, to the amazement of everyone in the shop a black gleam sprung from the wand and melted the skin off of Sirius, and there in the light of the shop, stood Set, General and lord of the Void.

His hollow voice made the store drop a few degrees.

"THANKS" then he walked out of the shop.

Harry leaned back in his seat in relief. The crazy rush of the past hours was over and he looked forward to relaxing. He sighed. He hadn't slept at all. Well actually that was a lie. He had fallen asleep this morning at eight and his parents had awoken him at eight-thirty for breakfast and packing. Thirty measly minutes. It had all started last night when Remus and Sirius had finally returned from Diagon Alley.

"_Remus you look exhausted_!" _Lily had cried._ And indeed he had. _Remus face was grey and the dark circles under his eyes made him look like a raccoon. Sirius on the other looked like a kid in a candy store almost bouncing up and down and clutching his brand new wand still in its box. The box seemed weird to him, it was pitch black, and it somehow glinted in the dark hall. _

_The next sequence of events are still a bit hazy to him, but everyone had told him, he's better of not knowing. An explosion had rocked the house._

_BOOOOOOM!_

_The shock wave knocked all of them off their feet, and brought the rest of the house's occupants down to the hall. He was surprised to see who was all at the house. Proff. McGonagall, Proff. Snape, Mr. Weasley and Dumbledore. "What happened?" Dumbledore had asked in his very familiar calm voice. "I don't know headmaster." His father replied, "We had just seen Sirius and Remus come in when we felt…" "And heard." interjected his mom "Yes, and heard the explosion"_

_They all looked at each other, then as one they took out their wands and ran for the front door. The others didn't tell Harry this, cause they didn't see it, but when they ran for the door, Sirius, had a strange, kind of evil glint in his eyes as he lazily walked to where the rest were speeding off._

_For the next 7 hours violent shocks rocked the house, and flashes and bangs kept illuminating the house from all directions. Now and then he heard screams rip through the air, every time that happened, Harry's chest tightened where he was locked in a room, in which Lily shoved him into just before, he could try and join them outside._

_After what seemed like an eternity, Lily's face appeared in the now open door. All of the people there were smeared in dirt and dust. By this time, Harry was furious, not only was he locked in a room, but no one even wanted to tell him what happened, but he did notice something, everyone, including Dumbledore, gave Sirius very sceptical looks as they all went to bed._

Harry sighed again and looked out the window. Sirius was standing outside on the platform talking to Mr Weasley. Mr Weasley looked angry and Sirius sarcastic. Mrs Weasley joined them and grabbed Sirius by the front of his robes, said something in his ear, released him and stalked off to where James and Lily where standing. Sirius looked stunned for a moment then threw back his head and laughed.

And laughed.

He laughed until tears were streaming down his cheeks. Finally he calmed down enough for him to pay attention to Mr Weasley again. Mr Weasley looked flustered and shot his wife a look. He started to speak to Sirius again to find that he was walking towards the train. Mrs Weasley walked up to her husband and linked her arm with his and together they watched as Sirius boarded the train.

Harry suddenly sat up and stared at the two Weasley; they had gone pale and started towards the train towards Harry's compartment, but at that moment the whistle blew and the train started moving away from King's Cross station.

Harry jumped up and ran to the compartment door just as Ron and Hermione came in - arguing as usual.

"-that beast away from me."

"Oh Ron, it's just a cat and he likes you."

"I don't care- oh hi Harry." Ron broke of in mid sentence and grinned at Harry. "Glad to see you survived your ordeal last night."

"Don't tell me you know more-"

"What ordeal?" Hermione asked.

"There was some commotion at Grimmauld Place last night and none of the adults want to talk about it." Ron answered.

"Commotion. What commotion?"

"More like a destruction zone. I think it was an attack but nobody wants to confirm or deny ANYTHING." Harry slumped back into his seat.

"Was anyone hurt?" Hermione asked concerned.

"No. They were all fine just covered in dirt though." Harry replied.

"Who was there?" Hermione looked at Harry questioningly.

"Harry's parents and my dad."

"Remus and Sirius."

"Dumbledore."

"Snape."

"And McGonagall."

"Well," Hermione said sitting back in the seat "with that many people there no Death Eater had a chance."

"You think it was Death Eaters?" Ron asked.

"Of course. Who else could it be?" Hermione said. She looked at her watch and gasped. "Ronald we have to go and do our rounds."

"Oh no, cant I stay here with Harry?" he moaned.

"No come on!" Hermione grabbed his arm and started dragging him out the compartment.

Black stalked away from Arthur Weasley before the man lit into him again about last night. Jeez man, give a guy a break. It was fun watching them battle it out. He had dropped out to make it a fair fight and now they were jumping down _his_ throat. if it had been up to him he would have pitched that red haired vixen, Lily, against all of the black hooded comedians. These people don't have any clue what fighting was all about. Overwhelming odds. Danger. Blood and gore. _Now that's what I call fun. That sign that they had on their arms, it was pretty cool. Maybe I should get one as well. Oh and on a poster for the office._

Black reached the train door and took his brand new wand from his pocket. He turned suddenly and grinned at the two Weasleys standing on the platform. He saw the shock on their faces and smirked.

_Fools._

_I LOVE THIS._

Arthur Weasley stared worriedly after Sirius as he stalked towards the train. His wife sidled up next to him and said,

"James and lily are Apparating to Hogsmeade now and will-" she fell silent and her body stiffened against his.

Terror filled his body as he looked at the apparition that stood where Sirius Black was only moments before. His heart pounding they started to the compartment where Harry, Ron and Hermione were supposed to be but the train started moving.

_They were too late._

_The children were in danger._

Molly slumped to the platform floor as the train gathered speed and disappeared from view.

_They had to tell Dumbledore._

Black turned back to the compartment door and stared at the girl standing there. _Oh Boy._

She stared back at him and he waited for the inevitable scream of terror. The whistle blew. He stepped into the train and she stepped back at the same moment.

She kept staring.

He kept waiting.

Nothing happened. _Oh man. I was looking forward to some respect here._

He shoved the wand back in his pocket and brushed past her with a gruff, "Out of my way."

Harry was alone in his compartment when the door slid open to reveal a smug Draco Malfoy. _Oh great, the goon-patrol had arrived._

Harry steeled himself and stood up to face Malfoy.

"Hey look boys, it's Potty and he's all alone. How sad. Mommy and daddy die on you again?" Draco spat. Crabbe and Goyle flanking him chuckled. A little nervously Harry thought.

"Sod off Malfoy." Harry replied in a bored tone.

Malfoy's eyes glinted, "Why should I? I'm bored and I want to have a little fun. Guess what you're IT."

Harry grinned, "I'm so glad I'm the centre of your universe Malfoy. Cause you know what? You're nothing."

"_Au contraire_ Potter. I'm not _nothing_. WE are three. And you are one. Nice odds don't you think. Mommy and daddy will only have you pieces left to bury when I'm finished with you." Malfoy sneered as he took out his wand.

Harry's was already in his hand as he replied. "Your new assignment from Voldemort is it Malfoy? Killing students on the Hog-"

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" said a cold sneering voice from the door. "Fun time is it?"

Malfoy paled and dropped his hand. He sneered at Harry and rudely brushed past Sirius to go out. "Later Potter." Crabbe and Goyle lumbered in his wake.

Harry breathed in relief and started to thank Sirius but stopped when he saw his face. Dark delight shone there as if would have had great pleasure in watching Harry fight against three Slytherins. _Well, that's Sirius for you. _He thought, _Always looking for some fun._

To his complete and utter shock, Sirius turned down the corridor of the trained and called after Draco, "Hey! Kid! Wait up, I would to have a word with you in private!" and he walked of in the same direction Draco went.

Harry couldn't believe it. Sirius, wanting to speak to, as in talk to, Draco Malfoy? Harry then tried to calm himself by trying to convince himself that maybe Sirius wanted to reprimand or scold Malfoy for acting the way he did, deep down in his mind, he still kept thinking of the delight that shone in Sirius' eyes as Malfoy tried to engage Harry in a duel. _What happened to you Sirius, what is wrong? Why are you acting this way? _Tears began to form in his eyes as he slumped to the stool underneath him.

He was vaguely aware as the compartment door slid open and as somebody came to sit next to him. He felt a gentle hand rest on his shoulder. "Don't worry Harry, I'm sure it's nothing that bad. Do you want to talk about it?" he looked up tears still in his eyes, and looked into the warm brown eyes of Ginny Weasley.

"Ginny, what are you doing here? I thought you were at your friends' compartment?" he said as he wiped the tears away. He didn't want to talk to Ginny about this.

"I'm hungry. I came looking for the trolley lady."

Harry looked embarrassed, "Thanks Gin. Um, she's not been past here yet."

Ginny looked worriedly and said, "Oh Okay. Well I'll see you later I suppose."

"Okay. Later." He answered distractedly.

Harry was staring out of the window when he heard familiar voice.

" Hi Harry!"

"Neville!" Harry said in relief, turning to see a round-faced boy struggling into the compartment.

"Hello, Harry," said a girl with long hair and large, misty eyes, who was just behind Neville.

"Luna, hi, how are you?"

"Very well, thank you," said Luna. She was clutching a magazine to her chest large letters on the front announced that there were a pair of free Spectrespecs inside.

Before he could respond, there was a disturbance outside their compartment door; a group of fourth-year girls was whispering and giggling together on the other side of the glass.

"You ask him!"

"No, you!"

"I'll do it!"

And one of them, a bold-looking girl with large dark eyes, a prominent chin and long black hair, pushed her way through the door.

"Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane, " she said loudly and confidently. "Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them," she added in a stage whisper.

"They're friends of mine," said Harry coldly.

"Oh," said the girl, looking very surprised. "Oh. OK."

And she withdrew, sliding the door closed behind her.

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us," said Luna displaying her knack for her embarrassing honesty.

"You are cool," said Harry shortly. "None of them was at the ministry. They didn't fight with me."

"That's a very nice thing to say," beamed Luna, and she put on her Spectrespecs (which made her look like a demented multicoloured owl) and settled down to read the Quibbler.

By the time Ron and Hermione joined them the sun was high in the sky. They talked about the mystery regarding Sirius and his strange behaviour.

The compartment door slid open and a breathless third-year girl stepped inside.

"I'm supposed to give these to Neville and Harry," she faltered as her eyes met Harry's and she turned scarlet.

"It's an invitation from professor H.E.F. Slughorn to join him for lunch, apparently." Hermione commented. She was staring over Harry's shoulder to read it.

"Well Neville let's go." Harry said. Neville followed with a dubious expression on his face.

once again the compartment door slid open. Ron jumped, he still felt a shock every time he saw him. Sirius Black, not dead, but alive, and walking freely on the train. "Bloody hell, you scared me! Could you maybe stop scaring me like that!"

Sirius looked at him with a bored look in his eyes "No, it's the only fun i really have on this boring train ride to, where was it again? Oh, yah, Hog's Wart" Ron stared at him then tried to correct him in a way as not to offend him. "It's Hogwarts, you idiot. Hogwarts!"

Sirius stared once again, but with a feint smile "I like your spunk, almost like your brothers, but don't insult me again." he then turned his eyes on the other occupents of the compartment. He looked over the girls, and for some strange reason, well maybe not so strange, his eyes fell on Luna "May i ask, why do you have those glasses on? They make you look like a demented multi-coloured owl."

Luna, in her typicle way of handling things, just looked up and said to Hermione "Do you really think Harry will not continue with the DA this year?" Hermione just nodded as Sirius shrugged and stalked off, something very openly on his mind.

Ron looked at Hermione then with asked "What the hell was that about?"

"How should I know! We never knew him that well anyway."

"I was just asking! No need to bite my head off!"

"I wasn't! You were just asking a stupid question, and I just pointed that out!"

"I was not! Sirius _is_ acting sstrange!"

"Sirius has always been strange!"

"Well...! Ok, you have a point."

Ron sat back in his seat, beaten, as usual, not that he would tel _her_ that.

"Luna, what do you think? Luna? Hey, where has she gone to?"

"She probably left because of your stupid question."

"It wasn't a stupid question!"

Luna could still hear them as she floated through to the next carriage, passing Ginny and Nevil on the way.

The train lurched to a halt, with a steaming hiss. Ron, Hermione and Ginny was joined by Luna and Nevil outside of the station. Looking around, Ron was the first one to notice "Er, where's Harry?" That got everyone's attention "Maybe he went on ahead, you know, to talk to Dumbledore about his arm?"

"Yes, those bleeding scratches? Yes, one should check that." Luna said with that all to familiar dream-like voice.

Ron and Hermione just stared at her. Shook it off, and waded through the crowds of people coming from the train. Then, through all the voices, they heard somethhing they weren't use to. 1st years screaming.

Ron and Hermione, being prefects rushed to the screaming voices and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the cause of the commotion.

"Hi there! You must be the new ... children ... at Hogwarts? You look so tasty... i mean, tiny. Hope you like it here. By the way, my name is Black, Sirius Black. Apparently, i escaped from Azkaban..." he couldn't finish he sentence, cause the first years tore screaming after Hagrid, who hadn't noticed what haad happened.

Hermione stomped over to Sirius and started yelling at him "What do you think you are doing! You can't go around scaring the first years. It's not right!"

Siriuss stepped up to her and leaned into her face, and cupped her chin in his palm, and with a smile that made her feel like her soul was being slowly frozen he whispered "Cute faces like yours shouldn't lie. You and I both know, you reveled in their horror filled screams." with that he left to the carriages without another word. Leaving Hermione frozen in shock, as she realized what he said was true, and she hated and feared herself for knowing this._ But how could he..._


	8. The Seventh Chapter

A/N: We humbly ask you forgiveness for not updating. We are very sorry. Due to this story being a 2 person project life as usual interfered. Co-writers were separated by a thousand miles for a couple of months with no internet contact (sigh). And on with chapter 7.

**The Seventh Chapter**

**Disclaimer: if you recognize anything it's not ours.**

Sirius stepped up to her and leaned into her face, and cupped her chin in his palm, and with a smile that made her feel like her soul was being slowly frozen he whispered "Cute faces like yours shouldn't lie. You and I both know, you revelled in their horror filled screams." With that he left to the carriages without another word. Leaving Hermione frozen in shock, as she realized what he said was true, and she hated and feared herself for knowing this._ But how could he..._

Black stalked away from the bushy-haired girl grinning maniacally to himself. _Oh the joys of being scary._

He came to a sudden stop as he saw the horses. "Ooh Thessie. There you are. I was wondering when I would be seeing you." Snorts. " Yes, yes I missed you too. Have been scaring any humans lately? Yes! Oh good girl. I'm _so _proud of you." Leans down to whisper. "Keep on doing that." With a last consoling pat on the neck he turned from the Thestral to climb in the carriage.

The multicoloured demented looking owl of a girl was standing behind him.

"Are you following me?"

No answer.

"Stop following me!"

"I'm not following you. I am waiting for you get out of the way so I can get into the carriage."

"Oh."

Luna simply smiled at him vacantly before she climed into the carriage. He shivered. That smile really creeped him out. All-knowing brat.

He followed her into the carriage. Luna looked up at him smiled and commented quietly.

"You should be careful. Thestrals are carriers of the Npuromela fly. They are quite dangerous. They bit Harry last year and and that's why he was so angry.

Black just stared.

"Where is he?!"

"How should I know! I've been with YOU the whole time!"

_APPLEGATE, DAN_

"What if You-Know-Who has him?"

"Really Ronald. I'd think Dumbledore would know about it."

_SLYTHERIN_

"Somebody should have stayed with him"

"Neville couldn't keep up with him when they left Slughorn's gathering"

"But - "

"Shhhh Ronald, the sorting. Besides, Harry will be fine"

Ron and Hermione waited through the sorting and most of the feast, before Harry showed up.

Dinner was ending when they heard the great hall doors opening. Harry stormed along the benches towards them and forced his way in between them

"Where've you - blimey, what've you done to your face?" said Ron, goggling at him along with everyone else in the vicinity

"Why, what's wrong with it?" said Harry, grabbing a spoon, squinting at his distorted reflection

"You're covered in blood!" said Hermione. "come here - "

She raised her wand and said "_Tergeo_!" and siphoned off the dried blood

Before Harry could thank her, _tink tink tink_,

they looked up to see the headmaster tapping his spoon against his goblet.

"Now that you're all fed and watered, and before we start with the serious announcements - " there came a few giggles from the gathered students. "For your entertainment, for the first time ever, a member of the staff wishes to be sorted by our very own sorting hat" The Gryffindors, and the Hufflepuffs cheered, while the Slytherins sneered and the Ravenclaws merely looked disdainful.

"Mr. Sirius Black," Cheers from the students. "will be joining us at Hogwarts for some extra security. As well as Mr. Black, Professor Slughorn has been so kind as to join us as Potions Professor this year, and Professor Snape will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts." groans from the students. "From next week Professor Lily Potter will be assisting Professor Slughorn by teaching potions to the 1st to 4th year students. Likewise Professor James Potter will be teaching the 1st to 4th year DADA along with Professor Snape."

This time the students cheered and Snape groaned.

"Now Professor Black if you would be so kind as to join Professor McGonagall for your sorting."

From where Black was situated he could hear a pin drop. Then suddenly the noise was overpowering as the brats started cheering and screaming and laughing. He headed towards the uptight witch standing next to the three-legged stool.

"Let the sorting begin."

A chant started from the house tables. "Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor."

"Nooooo way he's a 'Puff."

"Nooooo 'Puff go for the Griffyn's."

"Thank you everyone, quiet please."

Black sat down and waited for the Hat to be placed on his head. _This was a stupid idea._

He felt the hat on his head.

"OH NO!"

It was a moment before he realised that the hat had shouted out loud. He growled.

_Oh no, oh no. Sweet Merlin have mercy. What are _you_ doing at Hogwarts?_

There was a _voice_ in his head. _Fate is going to laugh her head off. _

_I'll repeat the question. WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT HOGWARTS!!_

_Don't yell at me._

_Sorry._

_Good._

_Hmmm. _

_Stop humming in my head._

_Sorry._

_Now to answer your question - I don't know. There I was walking around coming from a really irritating tea party with Fate and Chance and Luck and all those, when as I passed by the portal it sucked me in. I mean I don't wanna be here I wanna go back to torturing the evil people in hell. I left a complete idiot in charge. When I get back, if I get back__,__ they might all be wearing haloes and stuff._

_Hmm.Hmm_

_And now these wizards think i'm some kind of long lost friend and they want to hug me and kiss-not that I mind the kissing - just no hugging. _

_Hmm. Hmm._

_Would you stop it already? Just put me in a house._

_A what?_

_Hat, I'm going to rip you to pieces._

_Oh well - if you are going to be moody about it-_

_HAT!!_

_Ok Ok._

_"SLYTHERIN."_

Harry watched as his Godfather sat down and the hat was placed on his head.

He jumped as the hat suddenly screamed. "OH NO!"

Whispers started all accross the hall, and within moments the most ridiculous rumours reached Harry's ears.

"_He's You-Know-Who in disguise."_

_"There's a Lethifold in the castle."_

_"He's a zombie."_

_"He's gonna kill the sorting hat."_

Hermione snorted. "It's more likely that the Hat is seeing all his dirty thoughts."

Harry choked on his treacle tart.

"Hermione!" said Ron, and started banging Harry on the back.

"What I meant-"

"Don't bother Hermione" said Harry. "Now we know you are also twisted like the rest of us."

Hermione pouted, while Harry and Ron snickered.

"SLYTHERIN!"

A shocked silence descended on the Great Hall.

"Wha..."

With a flamboyant bow Sirius swept the hat from his head, placed it gently on the stool and waved sarcastically at the Slytherin table.

Harry stared miserably into his plate of unfinished treacle tart, with the odd feeling that he just lost his godfather again.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked worriedly. "I mean you'll see him... I guess."

"Yeah whatever." Harry left the Great Hall.

_"SLYTHERIN!"_

Draco Malfoy's thoughts were still on his given task when the hat shouted this last _atrocity. _I mean honestly first Black betrayed his family by being sorted with the _Gryffindorks, _then he was friends with that blood traitor _Potter_, fought against the Dark Lord, and now comes back to life and expects to be accepted with the Slytherins.

Draco let out a carefully controlled sigh (because Malfoys don't do anything that is not carefully controlled), and lifted up his head to find the rest of his class mates looking expectantly at him. He sneered back at them, and continued to pick at chocolate mousse.

Dumbledore got to his feet at the staff table. The talk and laughter echoing around the Hall died away almost instantly

"Now that you're all falling asleep in your seats, I'm sure your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish. Let us therefore say goodnight. Pip pip!"

With the usual scraping noise the benches were moved back and hundreds of students began to file out of the great Hall toward the dormitories.

Black smirked at the look on the Potter boy's face. He was going to enjoy this very much...although the boy's mother seemed to be giving a look worthy of Medusa herself.

Cheeky woman.

Ooh and that Malfoy, now he's got potential. Not sure for what exactly yet, but he'll grow into it in another millennia or so. He did so need a new dragon at the hell pit.

When the last child filed out of the Great Hall, Black thought he was at last rid of the weirdness, at least for today. But, to his dismay, the world threw another curve-ball, because right as he was about to leave the hall, he met... the ghosts of Hogwarts.

He met them in a very awkward way. As he tried to leave, one of the meddling ghosts floated right into him, knocking him a step back.

The ghost seemed surprised to be bumped into "what the...?" the ghost asked in confusion. Black growled in annoyance "Watch it buddy, just because you're dead, doesn't mean you don't have to watch where you're going..." as he straightened out his clothes, he saw the look of pure shock on both the ghost and on the giant behind him "Well, er... I guess, if you think about it... you don't..."

Stepping around the ghost, ignoring the frozen giant, he walked off into the corridors of the giant castle or school, or whatever this place was

Several hours later Black was lost.

Well not lost as in the sense he didn't know where he was (because he knew _exactly_), but lost as to who messed with these wizards brains to make such a completely impractical place.

There were walls pretending to be doors, and tapestries hiding secret passages and moody, _moving_ potraits who needed all kinds of passwords.

Black was still contemplating were to start fixing stuff when he was accosted near the Charms corridor. _By a cat!_

_I hate cats...pretending to be gaurdians of the dead. Huh, they can't even guard their own tails, stupid beasts._

Black stared down at the yellow lamp like eyes, and said, "Shoo."

The cat stared at him as if offended and scampered off quick as lightning. Black grinned as the tail whipped around the corner. He walked a little further and came to a junction and was considering which way to continue his stroll, when from around the corner came the most peculiar man, with that damn cat right on his heels.

"Students out of bed my sweet..." the man's voice trailed off as he stared at Black. "Oh, Sirius Black."

Black smirked, "Yeah, that's they call me."

The man huffed, "It's unnatural it is. This people coming back from the dead. You and that blasted James Potter should have stayed in your graves where you belong. Coming to mess up my clean hallways and classrooms. They should have expelled you that first time I caught you out of bed. Don't you agree, my sweet?"

Black stared at the scrawny, ugly man. _Poor sod. So jealous of everyone._ "Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me. Don't worry I won't tell anyone that you missed me."

The man narrowed his eyes, and the cat hissed, "I'll be watching you, any funny business and I'll tell the Headmaster and he'll kick you out. Blasted kids." Muttering sourly the man disappeared behind a tapestry. Black's sensitive ears followed his movements all the way to the dungeons.

Black smirked. _Excellent, first order of business tomorrow night, pay a visit to our resident grudgy dude and kick his most annoying cat._

He abandoned all hope of peaceful exploration for the night and headed towards the doors of the Entrance Hall.

A single lit torch marked his passing from the castle's warmth into the open arms of the night.

Hagrid moved slowly out of the Forbidden Forest. His latest encounter with Grawp had not gone well. Especially as Hagrid had been distracted. Distracted enough not to notice that Grawp had picked up a tree and had attempted to play golf. With Hagrid as tee and a boulder on Hagrid's head as golf ball.

Hagrid shook his bushy head (with leaves from the tree), and he thought again about the subject that had distracted him earlier. Sirius walked into a ghost. Not through it, into it. Or from Sirius' point of view the ghost had floated into him.

Hagrid shook his head again dislodging a couple more leaves and twigs. Well his name certainly wasn't Dumbledore (great man that Dumbledore), so he wouldn't come up with some fancy explanation, but he supposed it was because Sirius had already been dead.

Hagrid sighed with relief when he spotted his hut with the welcoming smoke curling from the chimney. His eyes misted as thought of Olympe for a moment. Fine woman that. He shook off his thoughts, and opened the door to greeted by a ecstatic Fang. He let the dog slobber him for a moment and headed to the fireplace to put some water on for tea. He was ready for the next day's lessons. He had found some really exciting creatures for his classes.

Hagrid limped to his window overlooking the grounds of Hogwarts and sighed as his thoughts turned to Harry. He was in even greater danger this year. Hagrid cheered himself up by remembering that James and Lily were back and they would take very good care of their son.

He turned away from the window to rescue the whistling tea kettle from the fire, when he stilled. Movement on the Hogwarts grounds caught his eye. It didn't look like a student and certainly not like any Professor he knows.

Hagrid grabbed his crossbow and headed out to where he saw the glowing red eyes. He could've sworn the creature had waved at him. The ground was undisturbed. Hagrid wavered between telling Dumbledore now or waiting 'till tomorrow. He stared up at the Headmaster's office window and saw the glow of candlelight. He looked back at the entrance to the castle, and Sirius walking up the stairs. Sirius turned, looked at him and waved.

Hagrid stared.

_He had glowing red eyes._

He would tell Dumbledore _now_!

Albus Dumbledore sighed, actually sighed, when he saw the pile of mail on his desk. The owls never stopped coming. Speaking of owls, the Weasley's ancient one, Errol, was lying catatonic at the bottom of Fawkes' perch.

He supposed he would open their letter first. He had after all seen them two days ago and there had been no new news. This must have come up recently. He turned over the envelope and frowned when he saw the address.

_Hadmaser Dmbleeor_

_Hgwats_

Dumbledore peered over the rim of his spectacles at the owl. It's a miracle that the owl had found him with that kind of address. Arthur must've been in a great hurry to write this as his handwriting was never this sloppy. Dumbledore opened the letter and scanned it through. He froze and read it through carefully for the second time. The second time didn't shake the feeling of doom. As he was about to read it yet again, his office door flew off its hinges, over his head and crashed into the opposite wall. Dumbledore stared in shock at a gasping Hagrid that stood in the doorway-that-was.

Hagrid opened his mouth, and blushed, "Sorry 'bout that Headmaster...I'll...erm...jest put it back."

Dumbledore waved Hagrid forward, "I assume you have some urgent news to tell me."

Hagrid nodded quickly dislodging what looked like leaves from an oak tree from his hair. "Oh yes. You see earlier today I thought of goin' to go see me brother, and I packed him some rock cakes and pumpkin juice."

Dumbledore held up a hand that halted the speech, "Perhaps if we could get right to the important information."

As Hagrid relayed his story, Dumbledore's eyes lost their twinkle and he grew very serious.

"Hagrid would you be so kind as to fetch all the professors who are still awake, except for..."

"I'm on it Headmaster."

A/N: Chapter was written over the course of several weeks and always late at night...so forgive us as we go gaga.


	9. The Eighth Chapter

**The Eighth Chapter**

**Disclaimer: If you recognize anything, it's not ours.**

**A/N: Attention! Those who wish to thank the authors for updating with gifts line up to the right. And…erm...those of you with pitchforks and torches line up to the left… yes a little more…yes there…no, no that's fine…right there on the edge of the cliff. **

_"Hagrid would you be so kind as to fetch all the professors who are still awake, except for..."_

_"I'm on it Headmaster."_

Severus Snape stalked up the stairs past the gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office, scowling as usual. Although admittedly he had very good reason to scowl this year, more than any other.

His two greatest and most hated school rivals were back from the dead, the arrogant Potter and the insufferable Black. Already he had to share the post of the Defence against the Dark Arts position with afore mentioned Potter and Black will be prowling about the school looking for more mischief.

Snape swept through the door at the top of the stairs and glared at his colleagues gathered in the Headmaster's office.

James snorted and Lily giggled while Trelawney looked slightly drunk.

Snape glared harder at James.

Dumbledore coughed once and indicated to Snape to take a seat.

"I have called all of you here to-"Dumbledore began.

James interrupted, "Wait, where's Sirius?"

Snape sneered, "The mutt is probably sniffing up trees or the like."

James looked furious.

Then threw his head back and roared with laughter.

Dumbledore stared.

Eventually James calmed down enough to chuckle quietly. "No, seriously where is Sirius?"

"That is why we are-" Dumbledore tried again.

A hoarse voice rasped "I see darkness…great darkness… the future is black…"

Snape raised a single eyebrow. "Really?" he drawled.

Trelawneys's head snapped towards him, "The inner eye-"

Dumbledore cleared his throat. However before he could speak, Lily interrupted.

"Really Madam Trelawney, the last time one of your so called predictions crossed my path I died. So excuse if I am a little sceptical. The Dark Lord indeed." She huffed and crossed her arms.

"Quite." Snape commented.

"Indeed." James drawled.

"As I was saying…what was I saying?" Dumbledore contemplated the ceiling for a heartbeat or ten. "Oh yes, Sirius."

They waited.

Dumbledore beamed at them.

They waited.

"Right. Sirius is not who we think he is, or rather he is not _what_ he appears to be." Dumbledore explained.

James slouched in his chair and straightened immediately with a small grunt. "Well that is about as clear as mud, Headmaster." He commented while furiously rubbing his bruised ribs.

Lily, who damaged said ribs, smirked at her husband, "Stop interrupting the Headmaster James, he's only starting to explain."

Dumbledore gestured in the Keeper of Keys' direction "Hagrid is far better equipped to explain the situation."

As one, all the professors turned to stare at the half-giant.

Hagrid blushed and stuttered through his story of what he saw on the grounds.

The glowing red eyes; and Sirius Black.

Snape sighed irritably "You were quite possibly seeing things. Especially after your visit with your _precious_ brother."

"I ain't lyin' professor," Hagrid argued.

Lily put her hand on Hagrid's massive one, "No one said you were lying Hagrid." She soothed.

James spoke up, "Glowing red eyes does not necessarily mean someone is dangerous. It could just have been a trick of the light or whatever. Besides, if Sirius or a Sirius imposter wanted to harm Harry he had plenty of opportunities to do so before he came to Hogwarts, right underneath Dumbledore's eyes."

Dumbledore smiled, "James your continued belief in that I am always aware of what is going on is astounding and greatly flattering. But unfortunately, I have proof that Hagrid's claim is reasonable."

"Only reasonable Headmaster?"

"Severus."

Snape looked mildly abashed. But only for a second.

Minerva McGonagall considered herself to be a fair if strict person. She liked order, rules and definite organization. She despised lack of discipline and the idea of not following the rules was abhorrent to her. Black and white. Right and wrong.

But this Sirius Black, he simply defied all classification.

Minerva huffed.

_Defied classification, _she thought, _he destroyed any attempt to have him categorized._

Well there was _one_ method she could keep track of him Before Veil Sirius and After Veil Sirius. Because Before-The-Incident-At-The-Department-of-Mysteries Sirius and After-The-Incident-At-The-Department-of-Mysteries Sirius was just a bit of a mouthful.

Before he was rude, insolent and arrogant.

Now he's rude, insolent and arrogant.

Hmm.

Not really much of a difference if you look at it that way.

But he was different. And much stranger. But who knows what happened behind the veil.

_Luckily that is not my responsibility to puzzle out. I have over a hundred Gryffindors to look after, Transfiguration to teach and I have Deputy Headmistress duties to see to. Dumbledore can make sense of his Order of the Phoenix members._

Minerva shuffled the thoughts of Sirius black to the back of her mind as read the parents' petition to have Professor Binns replaced. She sighed.

_There was one every year._

Dumbledore beamed at the figure in his doorway.

"Hello, my dear. Thank you for coming so quickly this late."

"No problem, Headmaster."

"I'm sure you've noticed a bit of unrest in the castle."

"Yes, Headmaster."

"And I'm sure you're just eager as I am to have it resolved."

"Yes, Headmaster."

"Lemon drop, my dear?"

"No thank you, Headmaster."

"Please do sit down."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

"Now with regards to Sirius Black…"

The door to Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's study closed with a solid _thunk._

After her meeting with Dumbledore, Gwen sank into the couch in her sitting room and groaned.

Another sodding research project for the barmy old man. Great, just what she needed on top of all the other research she had to do for the Department. Just because she was an Unspeakable on a three year sabbatical did not mean she wanted to research her time away.

Okay so it was interesting. Very interesting. In fact in that book there might be a reference to an ancient Greek legend…

"…waking up now…"

…

"-lock wake up..."

…

"Miss Gwenny…"

A sharp bang startled the Ancient Runes professor awake. She shot up and yelped when her neck protested with sudden movement. Slowly sound started to filter in.

"Professor is going to be late to first day of school. Professor must eat breakfast, can't miss breakfast oh no that would be bad. Bad Professor to not be sleeping in bed. She must not sleep in ch-"

Gwen sighed, "Thank you Minky. I believe I'm awake now."

The house elf gave her a disapproving glare and popped away.

She gave a small chuckle at the house elf's manner, and then grimaced at the woolly sensation in her mouth.

"Right. Brush teeth, first priority."

She stumbled to the bathroom almost crashing into the door, but made it further without incident.

The mindless action of brushing kept her occupied until she noticed the ink on her cheek. The book she had used as a pillow must've gotten wet with drool and in return the ink decided that clinging to her was the perfect revenge.

"Oh bugger."

"Really my dear there's no need for such language." The mirror huffed angrily.

"I'm not your dear." Gwen mumbled back, the toothbrush dangling out the side of her mouth.

The mirror huffed again and Gwen's reflection gained a wart on her nose and a hairy chin.

"Stop that!" said Gwen irritably.

The mirror darkened slightly.

"I'm warning you."

It darkened further.

"I'll fetch my wand."

The mirror blew a raspberry at her and her reflection returned.

"Without your additions!"

The mirror complied.

"Thank you."

Gwen picked up the washcloth and started scrubbing at her cheek until she noticed a word

…rood s'htaed…

She frowned at her cheek. Rood s'htaed, what on earth was that?

The mirror snickered.

"What is it now?" she snapped.

"I'm not gonna tell." The mirror said in a sing-song voice.

Gwen ignored the mirror and thought of the possible languages it could be in. Gaelic, Welsh, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic.

It hit her with the force of a sledgehammer. Mirror image. So it must be _death's door._

"Ha I have it." She crowed

"Ten points to the genius." Said the mirror snippily.

Gwen gave the mirror a disgusted glance and covered it with a nearby towel.

"Hmmmf, pfffp. Mmmfff mffff."

She ignored the muffled sounds and walked back into the study.

breakfast found all the teachers sitting in their usual spots, except one, Sirius. He was off to one side where he could keep watch over the entire hall. He knew that the humans were trying to decipher him, and he enjoyed their struggles, it was highly amusing to the Death god.

He kept scanning the faces of the students; it was a little much for him, but the fact that he could feel the uneasiness around him, that was worth it. Not to mention the way the Sotter… or Otter…or was it Potter? He didn't really care, but the boy marked with the scar, he was the most fun.

Then there was his female companion, Hermione, now she was very interesting to him. She had a dark side, a side she tried to hide, but he saw it. He saw she liked it, he saw the way her body seemed to leap whenever that side showed.

Finally, there was Luna. He didn't know what to make of her; she was one of the few who could see through this illusion around him, one he himself didn't even know how it came to be. Man, he couldn't wait to get back home. No more silly humans

A shiver ran down his spine, she was staring at him way too intense…and...no...can't be…did that silly little human girl just _sigh_?! He had to get out of there! Now!

He stood up abruptly, which caused caused almost every eye in the Great Hall to focus on him.

"Excuse me" he said in a voice not his own.

He walked quickly towards the door and freedom, but before he could reach the exit, something exploded on his head and he was soaked with ice cold water. The Gryffindors, silly goody two shoes, were all shocked and the amused Slytherins were laughing and he was going to _kill_ the one who did this.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Got the professor Black! Ha ha ha! He's all wet! Washed out!" came a very annoying cackling voice.

_Yep, he's gonna kill 'em dead._

He slowly turned, his were like burning coals as he stared at a very amused poltergeist, the one called Peeves.

PEEVES!

The voice seemed to come from all around.

To everyone's complete shock and horror, the poltergeist that tormented everyone, the one that listened to no one, screamed in terror. He fell to the floor on his knees begging.

"Master! Please! I didn't know it was you!" his voice muffled due the fact that he was kneeling with his face in the cold stone floor. "Please I beg you don't…don't send me to…"

Before Peeves could continue, Sirius growled "Shut up! Now!" and immediately the begging poltergeist fell quiet, quieter than he'd ever been.

"Leave. And don't _ever_ bother me again."

Silent and trembling Peeves quickly left a noiseless Great Hall, looking back as if he expected to be pursued.

Every single pair of eyes was focused on the scrawny black-haired professor as he too left the breakfasting students behind.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat gently and continued speaking to Mr. Longbottom about his electives for the year.

Dumbledore smiled as he looked at her. Good old Minerva. She never lets anything upset her schedule for long. He let his eyes drift over the student body, pausing on a student here and there. He made a note to speak to Professor Sprout about Susan Bone. And to remind Severus about his newest students. The newly appointed Defence Master had a tendency to focus rather exclusively on one thing. Draco Malfoy for example. Harry Potter for another. And Voldemort just as an irritating third.

Dumbledore sighed as he contemplated Mr. Malfoy. The poor boy had such delusions about fame and glory and power. Such a distorted view of the world. And a death sentence hanging over his head.

He frowned a little as his eyes rested on Harry Potter. The return of the boy's parents ruined some of his plans. They certainly would not approve. He shuddered as thought of James and Lily's reaction, should they find out what he knew. Everyone knew that Lily had a temper. Few knew that James also had a temper, but while Lily was quick and hot, James was a slow, smouldering heat. Like a volcano, he could lie dormant for years and then suddenly erupt. Dumbledore could count "James incidents" on one hand, but what spectacular sights they had been. Dumbledore was sure that there would be naught that would remain of him once James got hold of him.

Minerva, who had returned to the table during his introspection, glanced worriedly at him and whispered from the corner of her mouth, "Are you alright Albus?"

He smiled at her, "Perfectly fine, thank you Professor McGonagall."

She stared at him a little longer and then continued with her meal.

Dumbledore sighed. This year will be terrifying in its shortness and agonizing in its length.

**A/N: Thank you for reading!hands out flowers to readers we promise that the next chapter will not take 18 months to post. As always everything belongs to JK Rowling except Black/Set and Gwen Woodlock.**

**Ta ta for now**

**ED**


	10. The Ninth Chapter

**The Ninth Chapter**

**Disclaimer: Look! The lady with the blonde hair. All of this belongs to her. Okay?! Well except for Black and Gwen…**

_Before Peeves could continue, Sirius growled "Shut up! Now!" and immediately the begging poltergeist fell quiet, quieter than he'd ever been. _

"_Leave. And don't ever bother me again."_

_Silent and trembling Peeves quickly left a noiseless Great Hall, looking back as if he expected to be pursued._

_Every single pair of eyes was focused on the scrawny black-haired professor as he too left the breakfasting students behind._

Gwen put a hand to her stomach and frowned worriedly down at the complaining organ.

"It's okay, don't worry. I'll feed you now."

It grumbled again.

"Shh. Stop that now. The food's not far away."

Gwen patted her stomach again and smiled sheepishly at the astonished students staring at her. She turned her feet towards the Great Hall and _food. _

"Good afternoon, Gwen," Professor Dumbledore said as the Ancient Runes Professor sat down. "How are you?"

"Famished!" Gwen replied, rubbing her hands together in delight as she surveyed the platters of quiche and garden salad in front of her.

"Did you have a good morning?" the Headmaster asked.

The fork on its way to her mouth froze and her stomach complained loudly. At this rate it would never get food.

Gwen turned horror filled eyes to Dumbledore.

"Oh no! I completely forgot! I found that reference…"

And with those words she scurried out the Great Hall.

Dumbledore stared after her for a couple of seconds, and finished his meal. He rose slowly and ambled after Gwen.

He caught up to her in the corridor just outside her office.

Or rather she ran into him.

"Oh professor I'm so sorry…I'll just help… let me give you a hand."

_Anubis__ is the Greek name__for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology._

_Anubis was considered the gatekeeper and ruler of the underworld, the "Guardian of the veil" (of "death"). Consequently, he was said to protect souls as they journeyed there, and thus be the patron of lost souls (and consequently orphans). Anubis was frequently depicted in editions of the Book of Dead as performing the "Opening of the Mouth" ceremony on the mummy and statues of the deceased, as well as escorting the spirit of the deceased into the presence of Osiris in the underworld_.

_Anubis was sometimes associated with Sirius in heaven, and Cerberus in hell._

As Gwen finished reading from the ancient scroll, Dumbledore gave a deep sigh and sank into the nearby chair.

"Oh dear."

Gwen glanced worriedly at him.

"Only 'Oh Dear' Professor? No 'oh pity' or 'oh golly' or how about an 'oh no'?"

Dumbledore grimaced at her. "No need to be sarcastic, my dear Gwendolyn."

Gwen grimaced at the use of her full name.

"So, what do you think?" she asked.

Dumbledore sighed again and placed his fingertips together.

"I have several theories, but I do believe that yours will be far more accurate than mine could ever be."

Gwen gaped at Dumbledore.

"You are after all an expert on the mystical and mysterious, while I am merely a humble alchemist with Transfiguration as a hobby." explained Dumbledore

Gwen snorted, "I would love to hear what Professor McGonagall would say if she heard you saying that."

"Saying what my dear?"

"That Transfiguration is only a hobby."

Dumbledore smiled faintly "Yes, Minerva would protest. 'Transfiguration, Professor Dumbledore, is not a _hobby_. It is lifestyle.'"

His smile faded. "What have you found, my dear?"

Gwen took a deep breath. "Despite the slight confusion of some books, I believe that this Sirius Black is not the same one who fell into the veil three months ago. I think that maybe something happened beyond the veil that we will probably never understand. I think that a creature or being or something else fell out when Sirius fell in. although how it happened and how we can reverse it, if possible, I don't know."

Gwen started pacing. "There are many 'gods' and creatures in the world and who knows what else inhabits the afterlife. For those who believe in the afterlife."

She paced to the window and looked at the stars.

Dumbledore's whisper drifted from behind her "What then happened to Sirius?"

Gwen stared at the bright Dogstar.

During lunch, the Egyptian god didn't feel much like eating; instead he took time to familiarize himself with the place. He let his feet carry him in a random direction.

A staircase moved while he was still ON it, and he found himself in a very peculiar place. Moving stairs and the sort really messed up a guy's senses!

It was dark, not much light to speak of, not that he minded, but considering that the place was lit up by hundreds of candles it did strike him as odd.

"Wizards!" he snorted in contempt.

So finally, shrugging, he ventured on, since it didn't seem the stairs were keen on fetching him again.

Most of the portrait occupants fled as he shifted into his true self in this dark place. It seemed that the darkness here was a counter for the illusion of the veil he came through.

He froze, he sniffed the stale air…this was interesting, he wasn't alone, something else seemed to be in this forgotten part of the castle.

He spun around and saw… nothing. He was certain he could sense life around here…he shrugged and moved on, then once again he spun around, nothing yet again… this was getting tiresome, something was toying with him…then he heard it, a hissing sound.

_Wait a minute_ he thought and looked down.

Staring up at him, two glowing eyes, pupils were slits the hair was on end…a cat! No wonder he couldn't hear the thing! _Sneaky and pesky_.

"Hello little cat," he bent down a voice dripping with honey, but venom at its core, "so, you can see me…"

The cat was frozen, fur on end as it hissed at the large K9.

He leaned close "Boo." the cat was gone in a flash; pleased laughter followed the cat until it was out of sight.

His breath wheezed through his chest…he had to get to her. His precious. His lungs burned with the need for oxygen. His legs were already aching, but she was in trouble.

Those darn kids. It's always them. It was much better when _she_ was Headmistress. _She_ allowed him to punish the little brats. She _understood_ about discipline. Not like that barmy one. All he wanted to do was hand out sweets.

Sweets. Ha. That'll be the day. _She_ would never give those brats sweets. She'd give them whips and chains. So they could learn. Manners. Respect. And obedience. AND TO CLEAN THE BLOODY FLOORS!

His chest gave another stab, and he gasped for breath.

There. The third floor. She must be here.

Black stared as the decrepit form of the caretaker limped hurriedly past him, gasping and wheezing.

He shrugged and walked in the direction of the kitchens.

Terrorizing cats had really given him an appetite.

James shifted uncomfortably as he stared at their faces.

First years. Absolutely terrified of everyone and everything.

He grimaced as he thought about the first year curriculum. If they weren't going to teach the children curses and defensive techniques, and recognition methods, then they should call these classes something else.

Like boy scouts.

Or basic survival lessons.

The 'Ministry approved curriculum' for the first years included wand care and safety, how to produce light in a dark place (which is covered in Charms), and what to do in a 'scary' situation (call an adult or professor).

When he was at Hogwarts, James mused, they were taught about unicorns, fairies and their rings, pixies and all the smaller creatures. And they were taught defensive spells. Granted, none of them could do it, but at least they knew about it.

James stared at the terrified faces again, sighed and started lecturing.

"The proper way to keep your wand safe is to…"

_I'd really much rather teach Harry non-verbal spells._

James sighed in relief as the first years trooped out of the classroom.

_Merlin, that was exhausting._

He sank down in the chair behind his desk and groaned. Maybe he should go back to training Aurors. They at least could HOLD their wands in the correct position.

The screams had him sprinting to the door.

The sight that met his eyes in the corridor had him transfixed…

They were frozen in place as a very lithe man smugly stared at them, apparently these kiddies didn't like to see him, and he presumed a person who escaped the place Azkaban wasn't liked very much. And that fitted him nicely, the more screams, and the less…. Uhg… hugs he got, the better. Screams didn't leave your skin all tingly, and he seriously didn't like that tingly feeling.

He wasn't go to move out of their way, and it seemed they couldn't turn back, because, he assumed, their next class was in this direction, or maybe some other reason. Still that wasn't going to make him move, so he kept walking toward them, eventually they parted for him, too bad though, he liked the way they stepped back with each of his forward steps.

"Hey there young ones" he said in a very sweet voice, as he spoke each and every one flinched as if he was spitting some kind of venom or toxic gas. He smiled "Off to class are you? Try to keep out of dark corners, who knows what foul things can lurk in this, large, unexplored, mid-Evil castle…"

He gave the girl who came up the stairs a sweet, knowing smile, as she frowned at him…

As he walked past her, he said in a soft whisper "Hope you enjoyed my little demonstration." she just huffed and walked on.

As she walked a silent voice came, the same voice of the person they see as Sirius _"Don't deny your hart, you and I both know you like to see them tremble… embrace it…" _ she shivered, as if the whole castle's temperature dropped by a few degrees in a few seconds. She was starting to doubt what she thought was right, and it scared her even more than Sirius, why was she suddenly so uncertain of herself and what she believed was the right thing….

"_What is he doing to me?!" _she screamed to no one there.

**A/N: info about Anubis was taken from Wikipedia. Fantastic resource. You all must go check it out. NOW!!**

**A/N/N:) **_**Sorry for the short (for us) chapter. We were eager to get this one out ASAP so the plot can run away even further sigh. Anyway feedback, flames, reviews and criticism are all welcome. We just throw out the ones we don't like.**_

**True, true.**


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